


No Choice

by Genuka



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bunny Farm Escapee, Bunny Farm Graduate, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Random Updates, Rating May Change, Sane Voldemort, Tags May Change, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-12-21 14:14:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 46,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11945961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genuka/pseuds/Genuka
Summary: Harry has had enough. His temper is boiling even as it surges free in the middle of the Great Hall. With the Third Task in less than a month and the school suddenly hating him all the more, where can safety lie?





	1. Flare of Temper

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lions VS Snakes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7710172) by [elvirakitties](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvirakitties/pseuds/elvirakitties). 



> I know the summary is crap this time so suggestions on that or ideas for the fic are welcome.  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedication:
> 
> Inspired by Elvirakitties' Lion VS Snake ch 3:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/7710172/chapters/18924053
> 
> Okay, I also have to admit that part of this spawned from shear frustration over how the Light "handles" Harry. It also comes from seeing it nearly every day in RL and the news whether it comes from idiots in power or some two bit power hungry asshole or some billionaire who considers everyone his playthings and thus expendable. You all know what I mean. This is quite honestly me loosing my temper and imagining Harry doing the same. This may or may not go further. Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Granger was berating him again over something he once again had no control over. Harry was fed up. He slammed his fork points down into the Gryffindor table and stood up to stalk away in one last attempt at keeping his temper, leaving his fork embedded in the table as a lone flag of defiance. Being shrilly commanded to return was the final straw. His control over his magic slipped and flooded the Great Hall in palpable fury as he spun to face his so called friends.

"I am not a damn _puppet_ for you all to control and order about as you bloody well please! Not a single one of you have asked me a damn bloody thing! You've ordered, you've presumed, you've forced me into playing the hero. Newsflash! I. Am. _DARK!_ I'm also starting to wonder if old Voldemort's offer to join him is still open and if it will get you all to leave me the _bloody hell alone!_ Hell, I'm wondering if _begging_ him to _kill me_ isn't preferable to what you damn Light people are doing to me! Snape, I'll be in the snake pit if Dumbledore rags on you to find me. I _love_ the extra access parseltongue gives me to the castle and its secrets. Should have let the damn hat put me in Slytherin in the first bloody place. It might have even gotten me free of the Dursleys like I've been begging since first year," Harry ranted viciously, glaring at a scowling Ron and a shocked Hermione.

The school watched in speechless silence as he stalked out of the Great Hall which promptly dissolved into panicked chaos. The only thing that kept the school from charging after him en-mass was Slytherin house, lead by Draco Malfoy of all people, protecting his retreat.

Harry was given a blissful few hours hiding in the Slytherin common room suffering through the few weirded-out looks from those who skipped supper. He really hadn't been kidding when he told the school that speaking Parseltongue gave him extra privileges when it came to the magic of the school and he was relishing in the quiet.

Oh, he knew the old man would eventually force Severus to go get him. A simple command to the stone snake guarding the entrance had ensured only a Slytherin or Snape himself could get into the common room. He, along with everyone else hiding in the snake pit, was safe from the rest of the sheeple in the school... for now.


	2. Slytherin House

Harry had, thankfully, thought to call Dobby and ask him to retrieve most of his important things just in case someone got it into their head to destroy his stuff while he hid in the Dungeons. In point of fact his pitiful piles of belongings were what had weirded out most of the snakes who were studying instead of attending dinner, mostly scattered 5th and 7th years.

The flood of returning Slytherins silently formed up around where Harry had planted himself, leaving Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape standing in front of the fugitive Lion.

"Care to explain?" Draco asked archly in impatient imitation of his godfather.

"Not really but I will if you insist," Harry sighed in resignation. "Remind me later to show you all the Chamber of Secrets for helping me escape the Great Hall."

"As much as I want to see Slytherin's secret hideaway you aren't getting out of it that easily," Draco said firmly, shooting down Harry's pitiful distraction attempt. "Spill."

Harry took a moment to organize his thoughts before taking on a faraway look, distancing himself from what he had to tell them, and starting to speak.

"Have you ever seen the sea? I haven't. All I've ever known is the Dursleys, and Hogwarts. I got to visit the Burrow, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, the Quidditch World Cup, and one time the Zoo but that's it. I bet you had a real bedroom and bed. I only got one when I turned eleven and I didn't know I was always supposed to have one until I heard things from Ron and Hermione. I bet you all wondered why I don't wear anything but the school uniform. I don't have anything else that fits or doesn't have holes and isn't stained. I'm not allowed most of what you all have and I've never held my vault key so there is no way for me to replace anything since I can't really touch any money that's supposedly mine. I've asked about things like what a blood traitor is or why I've been called an Heir, if I have any more family... no one will answer me. Anytime I try to go somewhere I have to have an escort and the only answer I get when I ask why is Voldy and his followers or that I am a symbol of the light. Any other student that gets hurt is allowed to go to the infirmary right away or a teacher deals with it. Instead I get sent to the Headmaster and made to explain what happened before I get healed unless its a Quidditch injury or I'm already unconscious. Did anyone ever wonder why I am so happy to get presents? Or food? Or clothes as gifts? Until I came to Hogwarts I didn't have gifts. I didn't even know that I was supposed to be getting three plates of food each day. I was usually just happy to get some of the scraps from making my relatives food. I learned here and at the Burrow that I was supposed to be getting food. All of this is part of why I fought so hard in second year to keep the school from closing, why I stay at Hogwarts every holiday. You spoke more right than you knew when you mocked me in first year over not being welcome at the Dursleys and about the cupboard, Draco. The cupboard under the stairs was my bedroom until I turned eleven. Do what you want with me, its still better than at the Dursleys or being treated like a talking head to demand everyone follow whatever Dumbledore is spouting at the moment," Harry informed them before sinking sightlessly back into his memories.

Harry was completely oblivious to the looks of horror he was now getting from the Slytherins. Snape finally broke the silence with a silent snarl of rage and a diagnostic cast at Harry. He didn't flinch or even move when the spell hit him, too lost in the nightmare forest of his memories to notice. The spell started producing a strip of parchment that just kept growing and growing and growing, forcing the snarl of rage into a look of sick shock from the Professor. Finally, it stopped growing at nearly 14 feet long.

The sound of a student getting sick next to him told him that some of his snakes were reading the results and it wasn't good. Forcing himself Snape cast an Accio and started reading the in depth medical history of Lily's son. By the time he was done he was sick to his stomach and soul, pale, and horrified at what the boy had lived through physically to say nothing of the likely mental injuries.

"You... you have a safe haven here," Snape hoarsely informed the son of his best friend and his nemesis. Harry simply nodded his acceptance and went back to staring sightlessly at the fire in the grate.

The grinding of stone on stone startled everyone. They all turned towards the sound and next to the fireplace the stones shifted aside to reveal a passageway. Harry could see a door at the end of the hall but also a flight of stairs leading downwards off to the right of the new door.

"~Little snake you are welcome in my chambers and in my personal workshop, what you call the Chamber of Secrets. You may wear the brash colors of Godric's House but I acknowledge you as one of ours. I am disturbed by how you have been treated yet glad that Lady Magic has granted you the gift of the Serpent tongue that you may use my secrets of the castle freely however it may have come about. The stairs lead to my study and workshop while the door is a bedroom you may claim and fortify as you please. I and the other founders have watched what you have endured here in this castle that is supposed to be a safe haven for all young magicals. For your trials and the repeated display of the values of each house we acknowledge and claim you as an Heir of Hogwarts. This is now your year round residence and no one can ever force you to leave the castle,~" the portrait of Salazar Slytherin, placed above the common room fireplace, informed Harry in Parseltongue before switching to English for the first time in centuries. "Child of Hogwarts this is your new home, be welcome in my house."

The words of the founder sparked magic which altered Harry's uniform. Harry still wore the Patch of Gryffindor but an embroidered snake now circled it protectively while a smaller patch of the school crest had formed underneath it. The red lining of his robes along with the red and gold of his tie were now shot through with strands of green and silver.

Next to the hallway a bronze plaque with Harry's name, house, status, along with a list of the various house qualities and his achievements appeared.

>   
>  **Loyalty:** Accepting Ron back as a friend (2nd year/early 4th year)/Fighting to protect his friends and the school (multi-year)
> 
> **Hardwork:** Maintaining grades despite insanity each year/Investigative work to find the answers each year/Learning the Patronous (3rd year)
> 
> **Bravery:** Protecting the stone (1st year)/Fighting off Quirrel/Fighting off the Dementors repeatedly/Fighting the Basilisk
> 
> **Knowledge:** Maintaining grades despite insanity each year/Investigative work to find the answers each year/Learning the Patronous Charm (3rd year)/Using the knowledge each year effectively
> 
> **Cunning:** Using the knowledge each year effectively (multi-year)/Arranging to have help in various forms whatever happens each year/Using the political or personal stance of others to get things done (1st year Peeves/Bloody Baron, Crabe/Goyle polyjuice potion 2nd year, Lupin and the Patronous charm lessons 3rd year)
> 
> **Ambition:** Fighting to keep the school open to avoid the Dursleys (2nd year), Fighting to stay alive (multi-year)  
> 

  
Just under Harry's name there were instructions to tap the inscribed incident with a wand to view a proper summary of the individual event or events. Tapping the school crest on the upper right hand corner would reset the plaque. 


	3. Hidden Asset

The entryway let in Mad-eye twenty minutes later even as it continued to bar entrance to the rest of the school. The sudden aching of the Dark Mark told Snape that this man wasn't Moody but instead a Death Eater and had somehow used his own Dark Mark to enter the common room.

"So you are one of Voldemort's... Figures. Did you put my name in the stupid goblet?" Harry asked the man bluntly. The castle had whispered to him that the man was marked by another Heir, the Heir of Slytherin, as a servant and he was in Slytherin territory. The whisper carried a distinct apology in its tone but Harry didn't mind and had mentally stroked the whisper as a thank you.

"We need to talk Potter. The Headmaster wants a word and you spooked the other schools," Moody said gruffly. Harry's harsh bark of broken laughter startled the Slytherins and put Snape on edge.

"If you are still talking to Voldy tell him I'll help him get his body back but he can't go around killing and torturing indiscriminately. I still don't even know what he stands for or why everyone is fighting. I _need_ information. Salazar has already promised me a safe place and never needing to go back to the Dursleys. Right now I really don't care what Dumbledore wants, especially with how he made absolutely sure I had to compete and that it didn't look like his fault. I'm also getting tired of the randomly weird dreams and weird pains from the scar Voldy left me with. Did he have to kill that old Muggle Frank? Never mind, you probable don't know what I'm talking about," Harry scowled in thought.

"Potter...?" Moody asked uncertainly.

"I need to break something and then curl up in blankets for a while, maybe then I'll be able to think clearly and deal with it all. I know the sheeple won't leave me alone," Harry pouted tiredly, earning twin snorts of unwanted amusement from Snape and Draco.

"I'll just tell him you were overwrought because of the way you've been harassed and having to fight for your life shall I?" Moody asked wryly.

"Yeah, that works. Tell him that I can lock down the Slytherin common room but it still leaves the staff _some_ access and the Chamber won't let anyone rescue me which was the alternative to Slytherin house. You know everyone still mostly hates me for my name coming out of the stupid goblet," Harry complained/agreed.

"Whoever put your name in might not have been given much of a choice lad," Moody pointed out carefully.

"Fine," Harry sighed before pulling one of the common room blankets off a nearby couch and cuddling up in his chair, hiding himself from the world inside the protective folds of the blanket. They left him alone after that as Slytherin house mostly dispersed and went back to normal things, occasionally tossing the Lion a look to check on him. Moody gave his excuses to everyone outside and sent them off before wandering off and sending an urgent update to his lord.


	4. Slytherin Breakfast

The next morning Harry woke to not Ron or Hermione shaking him on the couch but Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. One look around told him last night hadn't been a dream and that, yes he had not only told the school to fuck off but spilled secrets about his life that would get him punished whenever the Dursleys got their hands on him again. He was under no illusion that Dumbledore wouldn't force him back to Private Dr.

"Come on Harry, breakfast and then we're getting you clothes. If someone asks we're blaming a seventh year for spilling an unfinished acid based potion on your clothes. I got a house elf to check what you left in Gryffindor and someone burned it. Pansy is going to try and burn what you do have unless we hide it and we need to escape before the lions kidnap you," Draco urged softly.

"Why? Why do you care?" Harry asked in an odd tone of voice. After a second's thought he added. "I want to keep the sweaters from Mrs. Weasley and my father's invisibility cloak but honestly? _Everything_ else 'cept my uniform needs replacing."

A quick glance at what had been rescued showed his broom, his invisibility cloak, his photo album from Hagrid, his miniature dragon from the first task, the stupid screaming egg from the second task, the Marauder's Map, and his school books from this year plus the essays he had been working on.

"I don't suppose whoever burned my stuff spared the homework I actually got done?" Harry murmured in resignation. The other boys shook their heads no. "Pity, I was hoping I'd get at least an E on the charms essay. At least I have the potions essay right here, even if it isn't done yet."

"We care Potter but explaining it is kinda hard and before you outed yourself as Dark a lot of Slytherin thought you'd cheerfully feed us to the Dementors because we weren't light," Blaise explained quietly. They helped Harry to tidy the area he had claimed in the common room before tossing various cleaning and freshening charms at him, leaving Harry spluttering and wide awake.

"Thanks, though you could have warned me," Harry groused. He just got mischievous grins in response as they all headed for breakfast with him firmly in the middle of the entirety of Slytherin house.

When he resignedly attempted to go sit at the Gryffindor table he was surprised to be firmly steered into a seat at Slytherin instead, by a Prefect no less and his grinning year mates. Most of the school was still in bed, it being a Saturday morning and Harry's morning observations told him that Slytherins didn't typically get up this early for breakfast. He appreciated the sign of support from the snakes and hoped they didn't get into trouble. He was also glad to see the sudden disappearance of the "Potter Stinks" badges among the serpent house.

"Uncle Sev, we're kidnapping Potter to get him new clothes are you coming with us or playing decoy?" Draco asked, causing Harry to turn in his seat only to discover the Potions Master walking up behind him.

"I will accompany you. I need to check something in the village in any case and as a champion Mr. Potter has the right to leave the school for research or supplies related to the Tournament. I am uncertain but the goblet spitting out his name may have legally made him an adult. We would have to check with Gringotts," Severus mused aloud, carefully watching the students to see if they got the hint. His snakes took a few minutes but he was surprised that Harry caught on so quickly, though the duck of the head to hide that recognition was painfully familiar.

"I sent a letter to father last night so he knows to not worry about me spending money on clothes and things. We voted after he fell asleep and Pansy raided his clothes. We decided that we couldn't have a school champion in rags. He wants to keep the Weasley sweaters and the... special cloak but admitted that he needs replacements for everything but his uniform. He didn't know they burned those last night too," Draco explained carefully.

Harry watched as Snape's jaw and fist clenched in anger on Harry's behalf before forcing himself to relax.

"We may as well ensure that Gringotts isn't fining anyone for overdrawing and that everyone in the group has what school things they need. Thankfully it is a Hogsmeade weekend so few will bother us if I escort you all to the bank. I trust none of you will separate from the rest of the group as we conduct our business," Severus informed them curtly gained a chorus of agreement. The other Slytherins not going with the fourth years all promised to cover for them, bewildering Harry somewhat as breakfast proceeded.

"Harrykins! We rescued the family sweaters," George and Fred exclaimed together, slipping in around Harry just as Snape started in on his own meal at the head table. Harry was immediately very aware of the bundle of sweaters wrapped up in a clean uniform that was slipped slyly into his lap.

"Ron was about to burn them with everything else," Fred explained.

"The git," George agreed.

"We are very disappointed in our little brother," Fred said with mock disappointment.

"Very disappointed indeed, burning the things of our little brother Harrykins," George agreed sorrowfully.

"Oh well, we will just have to teach Ronnikins that destroying the things of family members is a no-no," Fred cheerfully declared.

"Little blond moon sends her regards and thanks you again for the dance," George added happily.

"Nev promised to help you re-write your Herbology homework and warns that something dangerous was done to your bed," Fred put in seriously.

"Both of them want us to make you promise not to go in to the tower for at least a month and we promised to help you make a hide out," George promised.

"What? You think we're going to throw him out or eat him?" Draco asked nonchalantly, hiding his hurt at the suggestion.

"No, little Malfoy. We just think that the _teachers_ might be a little against Harrykins hiding out in Slytherin territory," Fred explained cheerfully. "Its part of their job to watch us you see and Harrykins is a special target for many nasty things and people."

"Oh is that all? The castle already gave him his own room off the common room and he promised us all a trip to Slytherin's Chamber," Blaise reassured them quietly.

Harry smacked his head upon the table and gave a muffled response to the twin's mix of hurt and gleeful expressions. "Yes, you can come too. The Slytherins deserve it as part of their house and you two terrors have been hiding in the lion's den with me so... yes."

"One of us will come get you when its time to go down, and bring the other two. We are getting him a new wardrobe today but we need everyone else to stay distracted. Think you're up for the task?" Pansy asked slyly.

"Are we ever!" the twins chorused before playfully kissing either side of Harry's cheeks and darting away as Harry growled, lifting his head so he could accurately lob a bisket after them.


	5. Gringotts Lobby

Breakfast proceeded fairly normally after that aside from the death glares and declarations of Traitor aimed at Harry. The Slytherin table and Harry endured it but snuck the reluctant champion out of the hall as quickly as they could via Snape and a fake detention for the fourth years. The escape from the castle was actively aided and abetted by the twins setting off a major prank in the Great Hall and, surprisingly, Filch sneaking them out the main doors. A portkey trip and they arrived in Diagon Alley right in front of the bank.

As they entered the bank Draco and Blaise quickly shoved Harry into the bathrooms drawing an indignant "Hey!" from their victim.

"You are lucky that the twin terrors saved you a spare uniform. Why did you think I didn't hit that bundle with a shrinking spell or sent it back to the common room to stay safe with your other stuff?" Draco pointed out. "Now swap into the actually clean stuff so we can present a semi-respectable front and Uncle Severus or one of us can shrink the bundle. We can send it back with anything we buy or just stick everything in the trunk we need to replace. Knowing Uncle Sev when he finds out what happened to your Potion ingredients he's going to be on the war path."

"Thanks," Harry said warily. He still wasn't used to this but then again yesterday these people had all been his enemies or at least appeared to be his school yard enemies.

Harry hustled through swapping clothes and suffered through their inspection and corrective spellwork before they re-entered the lobby looking respectable. The bundle of clothes was swiftly shrunk and pocketed after passing the first inspection. Snape gave them a once over and a nod of approval before the group approached the goblin tellers. While they were waiting in line a quiet discussion bloomed among the students, one that reminded Harry that he had been allowed to know very little about the Wizarding World.

"Why didn't you ask Dobby to bring you all of your stuff if you knew they were going to ruin whatever they got their hands on?" Pansy asked in a mix of curiosity and concern.

"Its a trick I learned at the Dursleys. As long as they aren't after something specific you can let them get something else first, as a decoy. It distracts them and some times they even think they got what they wanted. If they realize they didn't get what they wanted they sometimes take their anger out on what they did get instead of me or my important stuff when they get it or me. I might still loose whatever they wanted but it makes it more likely I'll be less hurt and be better able to get the important thing back later. Its a layered defense you see, more than one thing or technique protecting whatever it is. I do it every summer so they don't burn my cloak, album, and wand. They take my trunk and most everything else but they never notice those three things being gone. I hide them under my shirt until I get to my room then they go under a loose floor board," Harry explained sheepishly.

"And your homework?" Snape asked softly.

"I don't get my books back until I get to the train unless I steal them back. I have to do everything on the way to school. Hermione likes to yell at me for not getting it done before then," Harry admitted, hanging his head in shame. He didn't see the flash of quickly controlled fury pass over Snape's features or the looks of outrage that came from his year mates.

"We are so getting you wards on your new trunk and making you learn about protecting your stuff. I'm also getting you a moleskin pouch to carry around," Draco declared in open outrage on Harry's behalf. No one got to say anything further as they were called forwards to speak to the teller.

"State your business," the goblin grumbled, barely even glancing at them.

"May your gold ever grow. We need a meeting with several managers, in particular the Potter estate manager, the Prince estate manager..." Snape greeted and began only for the voice of Lucius Malfoy to cut him off, adding to the list.

"We will also need the managers of the Malfoy family, the Parkinson family, and the Black family. I do apologize for my tardiness Severus. Lord Parkinson and Lady Zabini insisted on contributing and their letters of authorization arrived slightly tardy this morning," Lucius explained smoothly as he practically appeared out of nothing behind the group.

"Not at all," Snape graciously acquiesced. His eyes though screamed a mixed demand to know what Lucius was doing and warning that he would protect the students if necessary.

"You need not be so worried old friend. This has nothing to do with old club politics. His acceptance into your house would have obligated my attendance if his Lordship hadn't. That said I owe Mr. Potter at least one apology and my own memories of a... similar situation with a house mate demand that I assist with the situation," Lucius explained, his eyes never leaving the Potions Master.

Severus could clearly see regret in his friend's eyes when his own childhood was brought up. The same regret flashed through those grey eyes when the apology was mentioned. The regret showed the other man's sincerity and made Severus briefly glare at his friend as he knew the situation had to have been unforgivable for such an intense reaction.


	6. Trouble Magnet

The teller impatiently yet respectfully accepted the letters. He did a quick exam for authenticity before handing them back. Agreeing to their request, he gestured for the group to be escorted out of the lobby. They were immediately taken to a meeting room and given refreshments while the requested managers were fetched.

While they were waiting Harry kept glancing warily at Lucius, more warily than the other fourth years could account for. It took a good fifteen minutes for Harry to marshal his courage and ask. "What exactly did you want to apologize for?"

"The spell I attempted to use on you when you returned the Dark Lord's diary to me. It was completely out of line and it would have been disastrous if I had succeeded in casting it, for both of us, even if I had still failed to hit you with it. I make no excuses for my actions or the temper that sparked them that day but from the lack of problems I have had from it I surmise that you told no one. For that I owe you a life debt," Lucius informed him. His total focus was on the boy, no young man in front of him.

The watching Slytherins each sucked in a breath in shock, knowing what that meant while Harry just looked confused.

"O..okay? Dobby stopped you, not me and I don't even know what you were casting," Harry offered, setting aside his confusion for later.

"You didn't report it. If you had Dumbledore would have checked your memory in a pensive and known what I was trying to cast. I would have been killed for it. Should the Dark Lord return I will petition him to seek a way other than your death. The eventual solution may not be pleasant but I will do my best to aid your survival," Lucius offered calmly.

"That would be really helpful," Harry agreed gratefully. "I still don't understand a lot of this. I can guess at a lot but I don't actually _know_ , no one has ever taught me and any time I've asked they usually blow me off or find some other way of not telling me. I know that Neville, for example, said that I am the Potter Heir but I don't know what that means and my only guess is that I am the son of my parents. I tried asking but I was told it wasn't something I needed to know. I don't know what a life debt is. I can guess but I don't actually _know_ what it means both practically and legally."

As Harry spoke the rest of group got more and more pale listening to his answer, something that told Harry he was already supposed to know this stuff and that it was important.

"Who ever gave you Heir training has been appallingly slipshod," Lucius said shakily.

"I haven't had that, I mean the only schooling I've ever had was basic muggle school and what we've learned at Hogwarts. I can never find the extra books that my classmates say are in the library and any extras never made it on to my school list. I know this because everyone else seems to have more school books than I do and they tell me they only got what was on the list. I didn't know I was a wizard until my eleventh birthday when Hagrid came and gave me my letter before taking me to Diagon Alley. I had to teach myself how to write with a quill since muggles don't use quills and bottles of ink any more or parchment. They use pens which come from the same idea but don't leak unless they get broken. They use paper instead of parchment, which is like plant and wood stuff crushed together and made into really thin flat sheets before being bleached to make it white. I think parchment is made from animal skins," Harry explained carefully. He figured that if he was going to explain one thing he should explain other bits too. He was also under no illusion that Draco would tell his father about what he had learned.

"This is..." Lucius began faintly only for Severus to finish for him.

"Disastrous? And yet this is what every single Muggleborn and Muggle-raised faces. I admit that I believed Dumbledore's tales about how he was dotted upon and that he had been taught our ways... at least until his outburst yesterday. Its a bloody miracle that his lack of schooling and his previous adventures each year didn't combine to kill him before now," Severus agreed with a shudder of dread at what might have happened.

"Don't blame me for that stuff! I tried warning McGonagall first year and she didn't believe us, wouldn't even listen to us! Second year we went to the _Defense Professor_ with what we had. A Defense Professor who tried to obliviate us more than once and told us he didn't care who died as long as he lived and got the fame for all of it. Third year... Sirius kidnapped Ron to get his rat who turned out to be Peter Pettigrew. I am sorry for blasting you in the shack though, you would have probably remembered to make Professor Lupin stay behind so that Moony didn't try to eat us. Thanks for protecting us after he er, changed too," Harry admitted sheepishly. "When Sirius dragged Ron off we just thought he was a dog, something we could handle ourselves. Ron broke his leg when he tried to hang on to the roots of the tree with it and Sirius yanked him into the tunnel."

"Should I call you trouble magnet then?" Snape inquired in a mix of amusement and exasperation.

"Er... yeah, alright. Trouble magnet fits," Harry agreed blushing so hard that his year mates just had to laugh, making him blush harder.

"That said no matter what the Headmaster tells you Black needs a healer if he is innocent and if he isn't then he belongs in Azkaban or Kissed. Either way his time spent in Azkaban has forever banned him from taking custody of you. By the time any proper healer declares him mentally fit you would be an adult in both worlds. I tell you this not to hurt you but so that someone else can not lie to you about it and trick you into cooperating with them. Black's actions that night, both from my memories and from your description, put you all in considerable danger. Not the least of which was the hundred or so Dementors that nearly Kissed the both of you and with you only just barely managing to banish them with your Patronous and the little time loop that the portraits were kind enough to inform me about," Snape informed him, his tone rebuking.

"Yes Professor. Um, should I invite Mr. Malfoy to see the Chamber of Secrets when I show the rest of Slytherin house?" Harry asked sheepishly.

" _Lord_ Malfoy and yes, I would most certainly recommend it. For the rest of the term you will report to my office regularly to learn at least some of your Heir duties. As far as the rest of the school is concerned though it will be detention for sneaking off the grounds during the week or some other similar level of infraction. It is likely going to take _years_ to correct your lack of education in that area so expect us to first get you caught up on basics and the instances that might get you killed," Severus informed him.

"That would be grand. I really don't want to die and I don't know why some people act all offended when I meet them or say hello. Its been driving me batty, pun not intended," Harry admitted with open relief.

"This also means remedial potions. You've obviously been working without a proper grounding in the subject which could be disastrous and will most certainly get you killed if it remains uncorrected in some fashion. Then there is whatever physical damage that your relatives inflicted, we need to correct that post haste. Sadly there isn't time before the final task to heal everything so you will be carrying medical potions with you into the maze that you were shown. With less than a month before the task we need to get your situation sorted immediately," Severus instructed Harry as the green-eyed imp smiled in relief at finally finding someone willing to help.

Teacher and student both completely ignored the pale shocked silence of their audience as they went back and forth sorting out some of what would happen upon the group's return to the school.

The voice of an observing goblin manager broke up the ping pong discussion and brought everyone's attention to the arrived goblins. 

"From the sound of it your Magical Guardian has failed in his duties. We will have to run through a number of tests and checks to get it done but our lawyers will relish the coming battle in the courtroom. Its good to finally meet you Mr. Potter. We've been trying to contact you for some time now," the Potter account manager politely informed them as the goblins joined the humans at the conference table.

"Magical Guardian? What's that?" Harry asked warily. His heart sank as the rest of the room froze and Snape started swearing the moment everyone began moving again.

"I am bringing this up with the Minister and the Wizengamot. If I can manage it the ICW will also be hearing about this!" Lucius hissed in absolute fury.

That's right about when Harry's scar spiked in pain. He was rapidly pulled into a vision as the rest of the room rushed to help him. Harry did not see Snape catch him only to cradle him in his arms protectively as the man frantically tried to find what was wrong. He did not see the healers enter the room to try and help him. Instead what he saw and heard gave him hope that Voldemort would be willing to try and work out a deal before being consumed by the blackness of unconsciousness.


	7. Healer's Decree

Harry slowly rose to consciousness in a peaceful state that he had never felt before. The sensation of floating was so similar to flying that it wasn't something that he was willing to let go of until he had to. Then the memory of the vision crashed in and he sat bolt upright in bed, not seeing the rest of the room as he was checked over by Snape and the Gringotts healer while his mind replayed the vision.

>   
>  "I accept your offer of assistance Potter. Once this... mind link, thank you for informing me of it, is properly identified we will discuss a further association. Whether that association is your service to me as a member of the Dark or a full alliance will be determined later. I may even give you one of my people as a gift. For now get Severus and Lucius to sort out your situation and ensure that you are no longer in the control of whoever currently holds your guardianship. Barty or Professor Moody as you know him will provide further aid and information upon your return to the school. Win the competition. You have permission to tell the Slytherins with you of me but your schoolmates must give a vow of secrecy. Welcome to Slytherin house, Potter. We will see how well you acquit yourself in your new position," Voldemort sent with evil glee before sending Harry into unconsciousness with a mental push that almost felt protective.  
> 

  
Harry's eyes finally focused on the world around him as the brief memory faded. He gave the room (Lucius, Snape, the healers, the account managers, and his year mates) a sheepish grin with a hot blush staining his face and apologized.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, still blushing furiously.

"Sorry? _Sorry!?_ You're sorry for scaring us half to death!?" Draco ranted. "Oh, I feel better now!"

"Draco!" Lucius rebuked, cutting his son off before he really got going.

"What exactly happened Mr. Potter?" Severus asked cautiously.

"Er, I'm not allowed to tell the Gringotts people. I got permission to tell the rest of you though," Harry offered sheepishly.

"That was a very stressful form of communication whatever it was. I recommend you don't try to do that again," the healer informed him bluntly. "The magics involved are centered around your curse scar and I need to look something up before I know what caused you to faint. This incident wouldn't have caused as many, if any, problems had the older damage been properly seen to or not occurred in the first place. The shear damage your body has taken over the years makes me wonder how you are alive at all. It will take months to repair what damage can be addressed and I'm not even sure some of it can be healed at all. We might be better off using a rebirth ritual to fix the damage."

"Wait you can do that? I know that a lot didn't heal right and that I had to burn through a lot of my magic at times to be able to move..." Harry trailed off realizing that he had once again upset his audience.

"I think it is safe to say that you will not be returning to your muggle relatives regardless of the laws and political powers involved," Severus said icily. "It was unlikely after your little speech in the common room last night but now I will be damned before I will let you return to the environment that caused this little discussion."

"Okay. Er, I actually wasn't in control of... whatever happened. The other person was. I'm supposed to find out what it is because he didn't know either," Harry informed them all uncomfortably.

"Will he, whoever he is, be willing to be examined? The cause may be with the other person rather than with you," the healer asked sharply.

"I don't think he will. He's kinda stuck and doesn't have a body at the moment but I'll ask the next time I see him?" Harry offered questioningly.

"You aren't possessed, the diagnostics confirmed that. Is this person a ghost?" the healer quizzed suspiciously.

"Er, I think he's more of a wraith? And probably not actually dead? I know he can possess people but he didn't even know we were linked until I told him... something. Hell, I didn't know we were linked until he pointed it out to me just now," Harry informed the healer. He was also studiously ignoring the various shifting expressions displayed by the Slytherins.

"You are learning Occlumency at the first opportunity," Severus growled, covering his face briefly in an aborted face palm.

"I think... we should avoid informing anyone of this, especially the Headmaster," Lucius said thoughtfully. "Completely aside from the other person's wish for this to remain quiet the political implications of this and whatever conclusions that Dumbledore could jump to are potentially disastrous. Your new guardian, once arranged, will likely need to be informed or we will have to arrange some sort of cover for whatever this is."

"I'm allowed to tell you Slytherins but I don't think I can tell anyone else without checking. He gets angry easily and I don't want him to get angry enough with me that he figures out how to hurt me through this," Harry pointed out uneasily.

"Quite right. As a healer I am formally instructing you to avoid excessive confrontation with this other person unless defending yourself until what this is has been discovered and a way to neutralize it is developed. That said You may simply have to arrange peaceful co-existence with this person as much as possible if the link cannot be broken," the healer informed him firmly. "I am also, under my authority as your current healer, preemptively dissolving whatever previous guardianship was arranged as the damage alone risks my calling for an honor duel over child abuse. This also has the added bonus of forever banning your previous legal caretakers from having you again as it is being done under goblin law."

"You know who it is," Draco accused shrewdly.

"Yeah and I _really_ don't want to get him angry just now. We have a... truce right now but he is part of the Dark so he might decide I'm still a Light weapon and try to kill me if I'm not careful," Harry explained carefully. That seemed to satisfy everyone and the discussion of identity was mostly dropped.

"We will try to heal you the normal way before resorting to a ritual of rebirth. The magical communication from earlier must be identified as well. In an emergency we could possibly adjust the rebirth ritual to wipe you clean of the magics in your scar without knowing exactly what it is but I would rather not take the chance if we can help it," the healer pointed out.

Severus quickly arranged Harry's healing regime for the immediately correctable damage with the healer, promising to brew the potions himself, before the medical group left and they moved on.


	8. Account Matters

"Will the person you have a mind link with affect what will be discussed today?" the Potter account manager asked carefully.

"No. The... discussion you saw was more a confirmation of our truce than anything else and the healer already fulfilled the one thing he asked that we could do today, dissolving the guardianship. I have to do the other myself and I was already trying to do that so it doesn't change anything. I don't think he knew the affect on me when talking that way but I got the impression that knocking me out was trying to help me. He was weirdly gentle about it. I've been knocked out enough times by people that I could tell," Harry explained honestly.

"That is so wrong," Pansy grimaced, earning murmured agreements from her fellow housemates.

"I'm glad that Greg and Vincent couldn't come today. They would have gotten upset enough to ditch their stupid masks and act all protective-like over our newest snake," Draco agreed fervently.

"Moving on to less... upsetting topics we have been attempting to speak to Mr. Potter since he turned eleven. He should have received his Heir ring before attending Hogwarts and been checked on his progress with his tutors. As we have been unable to speak with him that has been impossible. Under normal circumstances he would be eligible to take up his Lordship as the last of his line upon completing his OWLs," the Potter account manager explained, holding to his spokes-person role. "It is blatantly clear he never received the mandated training due his station or even proper basic care. There is also the issue that the magicals declared his status as an adult when his participation was confirmed in the Triwizard Tournament. This benefit of participation pre-dates the ministry and the magics that enforce it apply across the board as it were. The healer was unaware of this but his actions began a legal process under our laws which will ensure you receive reparations and that your accounts are corrected in regards to any misuse. It also answered a few questions we had about certain account authorizations which will be corrected shortly. The theft of gold and objects from your accounts will be corrected with extreme prejudice."

"That doesn't sound good or rather what you are doing for me sounds great but the fact that you need to sounds bad," Harry commented in a mix of worry and happiness. "I'm really glad that no one can ever force me back to the Dursleys though, or take away my magic. It will be nice being allowed to protect myself and use magic even out of Hogwarts without getting in trouble. Do I have enough gold, with the thefts and everything, to pay for a place during the summer and food and stuff? I never thought to do the math and try to figure out what I would need on the Wizarding side."

"Mr. Potter you are the Heir to a very old, very _rich_ family. If you or your children or grandchildren do not wish to work you do not have to. You have more than enough gold to see you through, provided you don't waste it away gamboling obscene quantities at every opportunity. The vault you have been using is your school pocket money. Aside from the payments which we will be recovering for your upkeep by your former guardians there have been some large, now known to be false, withdrawals from your account. Your magical guardian also attempted to establish an arranged marriage for you. Thankfully, the charter of your family prevents any arranged marriages not cleared by the Lord of the family. As a result you can not be forced into marriage via legal contract," the Potter manager informed him gravely.

"Thank god for that," Harry murmured in blatant relief.

"Who exactly was Mr. Potter's magical guardian?" Severus asked sharply. He had a bone to pick with them.

"Albus Dumbledore was his magical guardian by order of the Wizengamot as of Dec. 21st, 1981. The Potter wills were sealed Nov. 2nd 1981 preventing the execution or publication of the wills. Sirius Black was arrested for his part in the death of Lord and Lady Potter on Nov. 3rd 1981. We still have no record of a trial. However, his time in Azkaban, regardless of circumstance, has banned him from ever taking the Black Lordship. As Mr. Potter was blood adopted by Mr. Black at the request and agreement of his parents on May 2nd, 1981 making him the Black Heir. It is my understanding that Mr. Dumbledore had some trouble obtaining guardianship but that he was also never charged for kidnapping due to having collected Mr. Potter nearly a month and a half before custody was granted. I also happen to know that it was granted in part because he claimed to have placed you with your muggle relatives and that he could not reveal you location more than that for your safety," the goblin explained, almost kindly.

Harry sat there in absolute shock and betrayal as the Slytherins erupted in protective outrage around him. It took a good couple of minutes for them all to settle their outrage enough for conversation to resume.

"Now, would you like to update the will your previous magical guardian so kindly filed on your behalf?" the Potter manager offered slyly.

" _Yes_ ," Harry agreed savagely. "Should I die before my 25th birthday I wish for my assets to be equally divided between Professor Snape, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Fred and George Weasley - also known as the Weasley twins, Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Millicent Bullastrode, Theodore Nott, Lucius Malfoy, Gringotts, and the Dark party. Ant Lordships are to go to Professor Snape first for saving my life so often and then the Weasley twins, then Neville, then Luna, then split equally between the listed Slytherins. If I am killed then Gringotts is to conduct its own investigation and upon conclusive evidence meet out justice under goblin law before distributing my estate and removing the responsible parties, if on the list, from those receiving anything from me. On my 25th birthday the will is to be revised or reconfirmed after I have tested clean for outside influences."

"Clever, you ensure that you are avenged, by the goblins no less, and no one who has proven or is suspected to potentially have betrayed you receives a Knut," Lucius agreed with open approval.

"And the funds being transferred into the vaults of Ronald Weasley, Ginny Weasley, the Bird Fund, Remus Lupin, and Mr. Albus Dumbledore?" the goblin asked carefully.

"I never authorized any of that!" Harry snarled, coming up out of his seat as outrage finally started to overcome his shock and betrayal. "If it was authorized by my parents I want a full review by Gringotts and a report on it. If it was authorized by Dumbledore I want every Knut and item returned on the grounds that he didn't have the right to use my assets at _all_ when I had to work for what little scraps I did get from my relatives!"

"Gladly," the goblins all grinned viciously.

"At least Granger and Weasel's parents and brothers weren't on the list," Draco offered consolingly. "Though with how Weaselette throws herself at you I'm not surprised about her."

"They might still be getting stuff from this _Bird Fund_. It was the money for Remus that stopped me from just cutting them off and thinking that maybe mum and dad set up some of it, what with his furry condition," Harry admitted as he forced himself to at least appear calmer. "Mrs. Weasely is proud and Mr. Weasely is dedicated. I don't think they would have accepted money but they also listen really close to Dumbledore. I know the twins are loyal to me but I don't know about the two oldest brothers."

"Both William and Charlie Weasley are regularly checked and vetted due to their respective close associations with Gringotts as an employee and legal dragon parts supplier respectively. They will be double checked for knowing involvement in the situation but to my knowledge they are un-involved," the Prince manager provided his two Kunts worth on the matter.

"Alright, thank you for telling me," Harry acknowledged. The knowledge calmed him immensely. He knew Hermione was too straight laced to take a bribe that she recognized as a bribe but he also knew she would have done it on Dumbledore's supposed authority alone, especially if he presented it right. She wouldn't stand with him if Dumbledore told her not to or she would have already. Until Hermione proved he could trust her not to turn to Dumbledore and that she would quit punishing him for things outside his control he couldn't trust her with any of this.

It was clearly time to stop letting himself be used as the Golden Gryffindor and embrace his position as an accepted Slytherin student. Grimly he acknowledged to himself that these people with him today at Gringotts had already earned his Hufflepuff level loyalty. They would help him feed his inner Ravenclaw even as his Slytherin fangs were sharpened. Everyone would be shocked to discover exactly why the hat had so much trouble placing him even as they found out why that same hat regularly begged for the combined strength of school unity. He was an Heir of Hogwarts and the rest of the school would discover that he could, in fact, wear the house colors of every house all at once.

"The school's not going to be happy to see me wearing more house colors. It makes me wonder how they all missed it this morning, or the fact that I ate at the Slytherin table," Harry murmured, smirking at the sudden thought of dropping his masks... permanently.

"How the hell did you get shuffled into the Lion's den?" Severus asked, clearly baffled at the sudden transformation. He wasn't pleased at being duped so thoroughly but he was just as equally proud at how well Harry had hidden himself from his known and unknown enemies.

"Met Hagrid then met Draco, who acted like my bully of a cousin, then I met Ron and the Weasleys before proceeding to beg the hat for _not Slytherin_. Looking back it was probably a set up, aside from Draco, but I was eleven and just glad to be away from the Dursleys," Harry answered casually.

Draco blushed hotly as his year mates glared at him for scaring off Potter from being properly sorted into their house in the first place.

"And now?" Lucius asked softly.

"Kicking myself for ignoring my screaming instincts for the last four years. Honestly, its kind of weird how I just up and started ignoring them," Harry admitted with a thoughtful frown. "They started coming back at the start of the Tournament."

"All champions are being fed purging potions on a regular basis to prevent someone tampering with your tasks via potion control. It was specifically implemented separately from the knowledge of most of the organizers and all of the judges as an extra layer of security. I personally brew them and an especially tasked Gringotts owned house elf delivers them in your meals," Severus calmly informed them.

"A Gringotts contract," the Prince manager confirmed with a toothy grin.

"That... actually that worked out really well," Harry admitted. "I'm suddenly really glad that nothing I did this year for the tournament was dictated by someone else."

"Indeed? Well your Heir and Lordship rings will keep it from happening in the future. They also happen to have nifty invisibility and notice-me-not charms to use if you don't want people to pay attention to them," Severus smirked. He casually revealed his own Prince Lordship ring with a wave of his off hand before reactivating the magics again so that it was once more hidden.

"That's brilliant!" Harry enthused excitedly.

"Indeed. The potions in your food have acted in the same manner as most Lordship and Heir rings against indigestible. This means protection from most potions, poisons, and the purging potion we've just discussed on a semi-regular basis on the off chance something was missed. A purging potion works by bonding with the existing contaminants, whether potion or poison, and neutralizing them. Which, in turn, allows the body to remove the newly inert remnants in a natural fashion without triggering a defensive overdrive. None of you have been remotely paranoid enough about potential tampering but you are also all still in school so I don't expect basic competence in protecting yourselves yet," Severus smirked.

"That explains the lack of success of the Prank potions in my food," Harry agreed, smirking right back. "I wasn't worried about them since I recognized what they were and I was still playing clueless. Which is also why my potions _accidents_ were never that bad even with the sabotage, sabotage that I expect to stop from Slytherin house at minimum."

"Gods, I am an idiot! I thought I was actually putting one over on you," Draco cursed.

" _Draco!_ You know perfectly well how dangerous brewing potions is! I taught you myself! 100 points from Slytherin and you just drafted yourself to be Potter's manservant for the rest of the year as well as the first two months of next year," Severus growled in furious outrage.

"If we tell everyone why we lost 100 points and about his punishment can we earn the points back?" Pansy asked shrewdly as Draco bemoaned his fate in such a way that even Harry just had to laugh.

"Add in carrying him tied up into the Great Hall by hand and everyone dancing around him like they are victorious Native American warriors presenting a captive enemy to the teacher's table. Not only will it throw off the entire school on how they think of Slytherins but its an _awesome_ prank!" Harry added smirking evilly at the blond. The same blond who was now smacking his own head lightly on the conference room table in open teenage misery.

"As much as the potential humiliation pains me it sounds like reasonable reparation for the difficulty that my son has put you through Mr. Potter," Lucius drawled agreeably. Draco just moaned again at the audible smirk in his father's voice.

"If you succeed in getting the whole house to participate and manage to _not_ set off a prank war in the process the house will earn 50 points from me, you will automatically loose 25 if a prank war is started. Anything else you lot will need to charm from the rest of the staff," Severus warned.

The non-blond Slytherins all quickly agreed. Whether they followed through was up in the air simply because the entire power structure in the school was visibly shifting with Potter's change in stance. It was still early days but the entire upcoming war was potentially changed. Time would tell.

"To confirm, you wish to attempt to claim your Lordships or at the least the Heir rings?" the Potter manager asked. At Harry's nod of agreement he continued. "Be warned the magics may reject you or assign you a guardian due to your youth and lack of training. For the best results and the least likely to be lethal test I recommend using the goblin magical test of confirmation. It is, pending certain possible results, somewhat expensive due to ingredients and being _goblin_ magics but it is also recognized as legal and binding across species and is recognized by the informed portions of the muggle governments."

"Then I definitely want that test, especially if it clears up the guardian thing," Harry said firmly. He had returned to his seat when Snape was questioning his house placement and was currently very glad for this unexpected bank trip.

"With your luck it will first find no guardian and then randomly give you one," Draco sniggered, finally coming out of his sulk over getting punished. Harry grumbled a bit but conceded the point much to the amusement of his schoolmates.


	9. Family Matters and Calming the Mind

"We still need to get him properly attired," Pansy pointed out evilly. The smirks all around made Harry uneasy but he gamely ignored them. By this point the goblins had pulled out a few polished stones which they set into holders in a shallow silver plate, a silver knife, and some heavily potion treated parchment.

"Make a shallow cut in the palm of your hand, place your hand on the plate, cut firmly against the silver, and focus on knowing your status. Depending on how much of your own magic pours into this and how much your attention wavers we may get unexpected extra results," the Potter manager warned. "Ignore our chanting. We will tell you when you may retrieve your hand, though I suspect you may be able to tell on your own please wait for us to actually tell you to move."

Harry nodded his understanding and proceeded to obey his instructions. The chanted was low and gravelly from the account managers. Harry could feel a pull on his magic and on the blood oozing slightly from his hand. He ignored both in favor of concentrating on knowing his status and heritage, on letting the magic _learn_ him so that he might learn of himself in the process.

 _No one_ was expecting the magic to flare up and engulf him yet the chant continued. Everyone could _feel_ the magic examining him, judging him. It was a relief for all of them when the magic rolled back, flowing down his arm and settled pulsing in each stone set in their holders on the plate. The magic pulsed there for a few good minutes before visibly lifting from the plate, stones, and hand to settle on the prepared parchment. The glow of power fading away as both the chant ended and the information drew its self into a readable form.

>   
>  **Birth Name:** Jason Harrison Potter  
>  **Public Name/Nom De Gur:** Harry James Potter
> 
> **Parents:**  
>  **Father:** James Leon Potter  
>  **Mother:** Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans - **Mother's Birth Name:** Yuri Jade O'Connell (adopted - age 2)
> 
> **Godparents:** Sirius Black - disqualified for guardianship, Alice Longbottom - disqualified for guardianship
> 
> **Guardian:** Gringotts Clan, formerly Vernon and Petunia Dursley - Eligible Wizarding Alternate = Narcissa Malfoy(Pending Goblin Approval), Andromeda Tonks (Pending Goblin Approval), Bellatrix Lestrange (Pending Goblin Approval - ritual markov cleansing needed)
> 
> **Magical Guardian:** Gringotts Clan, formerly Albus Dumbledore - Eligible Wizarding Alternate = Narcissa Malfoy (Pending Goblin Approval), Andromeda Tonks (Pending Goblin Approval), Bellatrix Lestrange (Pending Goblin Approval - ritual markov cleansing needed)
> 
> **Eligible Lordships:** ( _F_ = Maternal Inheritance , _M_ = Paternal Inheritance)  
>  Potter - M  
>  Black - M  
>  Gryffindor - M  
>  Peverell (Heir) - Cadet Branch - M  & F  
>  Slytherin (Heir) - Cadet Branch - F  
>  McGonagall (formerly Lighten - dead in the male line) - F
> 
> **Magical Gifts:**  
>  Parseltongue (Slytherin/Peverell lines)  
>  Flight  
>  Natural Animagus - blocked
> 
> **Active Spells:**  
>  Multiple tracking spells x11 (hair, glasses, shirt, tie, house patch, over robe, shoes, socks, wand, pants, underwear)  
>  Magical Core Block - 69% (partly broken; current block - 36%)  
>  General Scholastic Understanding Block - 25%  
>  Ability Block - 60 %  
>  May You Live in Interesting Times - Family/Bloodline Curse (final generation)
> 
> **Active Potions:**  
>  Remnants of a Purging Potion  
>  Poison Protection  
>  Non-medical Potions Protection
> 
> **Other Active Magics:**  
>  Horcrux - Tom Marvolo Riddle (Lightning Rune Scar on Forehead)
> 
> **Vaults:**  
>  See account folders
> 
> **Properties:**  
>  See account folders
> 
> **Magical Commentary:**  
>  If Dumbledore attempts to claim him he falls under Clan Ward Status by Grinhock's Blood Adoption - Trial by Fire = Passed x9. 4 against things magical, 5 against muggle assault and abuse lvl 7.  
>  Full Goblin Justice is authorized to protect this young warrior.  
> 

  
The assembled Wizards stared at the test results in complete shock, broken, first, only by the quiet release for Harry to move and the healing of the bloody cut.

"Minerva is going to _kill_ me," Severus muttered, thinking of how often he had given Harry a hard time and setting off the others.

"How the hell did you become Slytherin's Heir?! Potter was a given, Black was a bit unexpected. I'm not even going to touch the rest of it!" Blaise demanded. The murmured, _wary_ agreements of the others didn't make Harry any more comfortable.

"How should I know?! I didn't even know my parent's _names_ until Hagrid told me when he picked me up to get my stuff for first year!" Harry protested quickly. He was just as baffled as everyone else... McGonagall was _family??!_ His life just turned upside down, that was for sure.

"How are you even alive?!" Theodore (Theo) Nott exclaimed.

Millicent was studying the turmoil instead of demanding answers and noticed how strained Harry was becoming. They hadn't even gotten to the shopping yet and she knew most people would have trouble dealing with Pansy and Draco on a shopping spree. A nudge and pointed look to Harry for her Head of House was all it took to get the point across.

"Enough! Question his bloodlines later when we have some sort of family tree to back it up with. Now, the next order of business is removing those be-damned blocks and tracking spells. Then we..." Severus started only for Harry to interrupt.

"You can't!" Harry blurted out in realization. "What I mean was someone put them there. Probably someone with regular access or at least lots of time at once. I can only think of Dumbledore or the school staff that _ever_ had the chance. Especially when Aunt Petunia said I was left on the doorstep over night. I've caught Professor McGonagall muttering over it when something reminds her then she looks at me in relief, checking to see that I'm there I think. The point is as much as I'd rather _not_ be tied up by the blocks I'm not sure we can afford to take them off."

"Perhaps this all should be discussed with the potential joint guardians present?" the Prince account manager offered wickedly. "Your laws technically forbid us from having custody but with a wizard or witch to publicly take guardianship, as a figure head, there is no issue. The magical commentary authorized us to go to war over keeping him and that is exactly what we plan to do - everything in our power to keep him, that is."

"Gods, I've missed blood on my blade from honorable combat," the Black account manager muttered just barely not quiet enough.

"How the hell is Bellatrix even eligible? For guardianship you can't have ever been in Azkaban, which is her current residence," Lucius asked, completely baffled.

"Note there is a ritual requirement for her. This likely means that there are extenuating circumstances to the point that magic is willing to ignore or rapidly repair or alter the damage from the Dementors. To know what those circumstances are we would have to speak with her and investigate. It is my suspicion that she may not be a guardian per say but more of a skilled bodyguard or other deterrent and thus not an actual candidate or at least extremely low on the list of possibilities. We, of course, plan to maintain primary guardianship," the Malfoy manager explained.

"The point is moot as Madam Lestrange is... inaccessible. She will be informed upon any future arrival at the bank as per protocol. I have sent off for Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks. They will arrive shortly," the Parkinson manager said quietly.

Everyone was given almost an hour to relax while they waited. A time which both Severus and Lucius took to having the others walk through a mental calming exercise. An exercise that everyone but Harry was familiar with as a prelude to meditation and Occlumency.

"Right, we've all had a bit too much excitement and information so you lot need a mental rest. I want you all to imagine your preferred calm place while you eat your snack," Lucius instructed. Knowing that Severus would have trouble giving the basics he turned to Harry and left the others to his friend. "Mr. Potter as I doubt that you've been trained in mental defense, of which Severus is a master, the first step is a form of meditation to calm and organize the mind. Most pick an element or some frozen part of a memory to focus upon to begin the calming process. A fully blank mind is mistakenly thought to be the start of a meditation when it is in fact a later technique. So pick a place or an element or something to focus upon. The movement of air, the Hogwarts library, the flicker of flame, the movement of a snitch, the drip of rain, a song, the texture of earth or plants, the feel of flight, the sensation of water... anything soothing. Use it to block out everything else and just... be. Let it surround you. Don't fight your mind reorganizing things or connecting information, simply let it happen. The first goal is to call up something soothing so that your mind _can_ do all of that and rest without needing to struggle with it all. Once you have your focus just sit there and breath, basking in the soothing quality and safety. We will inform you when its time to return to the rest of the world."

Harry followed his instructions and sought out a safe place in his mind. He found it within a mental mix of twisting water and air currents dancing together protectively around him. He didn't try to control them as they played, simply basking in the feel of them and the thought that they were nice and peaceful. He felt puzzle pieces of information sort themselves out without interference, slotting themselves away in the back of his mind. From schoolwork to the tournament mess, to the insanity that was the day's trip to Gringotts it all found its spot and settled into place.


	10. Young Lord

The gentle shaking of his arm by a potion stained hand brought him out of the basic meditation refreshed and far more settled with what he had learned that day. He saw two women, obviously related, when he opened his eyes staring at him in a mix of shock and respect. A quick look around told him that he had been allowed to meditate all through the explanation to these two women. Harry guessed that someone had probably tossed a limited silencing spell up around him so that he wasn't bothered until they needed him for something. As thoughtful as the silencing spell was he really would have liked to see their arrival, you can learn a lot about someone by watching them enter a room.

Paying the ladies no mind for the moment Harry turned to Severus, Lucius, and the bank managers before informing them of his conclusions from the meditation.

"Dumbledore wants me dead. The meditation put a lot of things into perspective. He's always going on about the greater good, telling me not to worry about dangerous things even when they are trying to kill me, doesn't listen when I try to tell him about the Dursleys, and every year there is some sort of _adventure_ that could be stopped easily by the teachers. He also isn't treating me like a student. Anyone else would have been at least punished for lots of stuff he's _encouraged_ me to do. Things that even teachers would have trouble with. Honestly, who encourages a 12 year old to fight a thousand year old _basilisk_ with only a Phoenix and a sword?! Or sending two 13 year olds to go back in time and face a hoard of Dementors?!" Harry scowled, firmly ignoring everyone's appalled reactions.

"That... is concerning, especially as he has had primary control of you up until now. We must quickly determine who will officially hold guardianship of you with our clan holding the primary guardianship. We must then determine your primary residence," the Potter manager concluded. "Preferably _away_ from wizard control. You will need basic schooling in our ways as a magic declared ward of our people and we must record your accomplishments among our records so that you may be receive appropriate training."

"Hey didn't you say before that the school gave you a permanent room?" Blaise asked curiously.

"Yes..?" Harry answered cautiously.

"So why did the school make you your own room right off the Slytherin common room?" Draco asked suspiciously. "And what the devil did Salazar Slytherin's portrait tell you before welcoming you in English?!"

"Er, it didn't. The portrait said that, well, that was my new room to do what I wanted with and that the stairs lead down to Slytherin's work room, the Chamber of Secrets. He implied that the bedroom... was originally his. He also made it clear that I belonged at Hogwarts all year, even during the summer, that it was supposed to be a safe place all year for any _young magical_ that needed it. He also called me the Heir of Hogwarts and Child of Hogwarts," Harry admitted sheepishly, a blush staining his cheeks.

"Is not one of your teachers part goblin?" the Parkinson manager suddenly asked.

"Yes, Professor Flitwick... why?" Pansy answered after a quick exchange of glances between the younger magic users.

"Then we have part of our solution," the Black manager grinned ferally. "As Mr. Potter has become a ward of a goblin clan it is fitting that his primary guardian _be_ of goblin heritage, no matter how diluted. Both Narcissa Malfoy nee Black and Andromeda Tonks nee Black will be listed as secondary guardians and allowed to teach you your family heritage as a member of the human Black clan. As a staff member he can simply make the school his primary residence and you would reside there with him. Since the school has declared you an Heir, which was confirmed again by the test you took, the school its self will protect you from harm as a rightful resident."

"That works," the Slytherin students chorused, grinning mischievously.

A note was hastily scribbled in gobbledygook, explaining the situation before being signed by each account manager as witness, sealed, and addressed to the small charms Professor.

"Give this to Magical Duel Master Flitwick upon your return to the castle. You may blame any extra time here as being interviewed about the Duel Master should anyone ask. This will cover your trip here and allow you to formally invite the Duel Master to live full time at the castle. Given that you are one of the rightful owners as declared by both the castle and magic this trumps anyone else's authority on the matter," the Potter account manager instructed, handing Harry the note to deliver. "We will send a second one by official owl after you leave to reduce the chances of it getting... lost."

"Are you... alright with this?" Harry asked the two women shyly.

"You are exercising your authority as a young lord. As for the decisions we've just watched you make... I think you did very well. You will have to be schooled in the basics of pureblood culture and our family tradition but I see nothing overtly wrong with this. It does put you in extended, if more protected, contact with an identified threat. As the situation may be used as a form of camouflage I can see the benefits but I can also see the risks," Narcissa summarized. She smiled warmly at them all.

"Whatever happens you are family and we Blacks, most purebloods in fact, take family _very_ seriously. I am aligned, through my daughter, to Dumbledore. Narcissa is aligned to the Dark Lord, as you know. What we have with you as our family lord trumps both of those alignments. Family, blood, over politics," Andromeda explained. "I was technically disowned but father only filed a partial disownment, which is why I was still eligible on the test for your guardianship. I would be bound by certain rules in raising you to ensure that you learned what was needed as a powerful member of pureblood society and why."

"These are your Lordship and Heir rings," the Potter manager added finally handing over the box of rings. "The Lordship rings go on the ring finger of the right hand and the Heir rings go on the muddle finger of the right hand. They will merge together as you slip them on and have more than one of each type. You accept them in the order of family age and avoid ever taking them off. To only use a single crest you focus on the appropriate ring and crest and the other crests will fade away, allowing you to choose whether you are acting for only one family or for all of them in your full capacity. They are self cleaning and have various protective enchantments embedded in them."

"You do the Lordships first then the Heir rings since you're doing it all at once," Draco explained. "So Gryffindor, Black, Lighten or rather McGonagall, then finally Potter. For the Heir rings Peverell then Slytherin... You know we should take a couple of copies of the test with us, for record purposes."

Harry obediently put them on in the directed order, having no trouble with the magics or the secrets that the magics conveyed, indicating his acceptance as the family Lord and/or Heir respectively.


	11. Shopping Hell

A quick wrap up of business at the bank, Harry getting a new account key on a charmed necklace with stern instructions _not_ to let anyone else hold it for him, and they left as a group. They headed out together for a slightly late lunch. Harry had very carefully shrunk and slid the extra copies of the test results into his pocket. One was going into his Photo album for himself, one for Professor Flitwick, and one was (after careful consideration) going to Voldemort.

Unknown to the young new Lord his seats on the Wizengamot locked down until he could arrive during a meeting to lay claim to his authority and heritage. While preventing anyone else from using them the seats also had checked with the linked rings. This process voided all previous decisions by Dumbledore as Harry's mind knew nothing about them and his guardianship was never magically certified.

"Mother we have to do something about Potter's wardrobe! Some of the Lions burnt everything but two uniforms, some homemade Weasley sweaters and his father's invisibility cloak. Before that he had basically just his uniform and _rags_. Can you imagine an Heir being forced to wear _rags_?! Much less a _Lord_!?" Draco complained once they had finished eating. The horrified looks of all the women had the blond smirking, a smirk that only grew wider as they descended upon Harry, who naturally resisted, as they practically carried him towards the nearest clothes shop.

"That was mean," Theo chuckled in appreciation.

"And yet effective. Come we must ensure he has proper clothes that can stand anything he may put them through but doesn't cost a fortune," Severus instructed, ushering the Wizards after the Witches and their young captive.

"He also needs some of the supplemental stuff. He had all of this year's text books in the common room where he slept last night and he doesn't actually have all of the books that were on everyone's list. I'm pretty sure his list was messed with and we already heard Professor Snape promising to run him through potions stuff again. He's going to need the extra potions books if nothing else," Blaise pointed out shrewdly. "He also lost his books from the other three years and any reading books."

His attempt to avoid the clothing store was noted and rewarded by a chuckling Lucius. "Come then, we will pick him up a replacement trunk and any books he needs along with a wand holster or two. We can also leave a credit for him to replace his regular reading books via owl order."

"They burnt most of his supplies and stole his ingredients too," Theo pointed out quickly, seeing what his friend was doing.

"I will handle ingredient selection when I pick up my own," Severus said dryly. He was amused at the escape attempts and mentally cursing the fact that Dumbledore would overreact if he left Harry alone for too long for all that it meant his own wardrobe would be attacked as well. He shuddered at the hell he was about to enter for the young man and barely bit back a whimper as his fashionista of a godson dragged him into the same shop as the women.

"Mother! I didn't let Uncle Sev escape. You wanted to get him a new set of dress robes didn't you?" Draco asked with innocent enthusiasm.

"Evil blond brat," Severus hissed under his breath even as he was firmly placed next to the harried new young lord.

"Help?" Harry begged in quiet panic.

"Just smile and nod. They will do most of it for us, we need only try on what we are told to. If asked a question answer honestly. Should we survive this and Dumbledore tries to force you back to the tower I will assign you to study in the snake pit as punishment for something ridiculous for the rest of term so you may escape the lions. I will do the same for the twin horrors and assist in pranking the school," Severus offered quietly.

"If he forces me on to the train I want you to pick me up from the station and bring me back to the school and you have a deal," Harry shot back.

"Agreed. Just be glad they plan on paying for all of this instead of making _us_ pay for it!" Severus quietly informed him.

What followed was a grueling two hour shopping marathon that eventually had Harry outfitted with a basic wardrobe by the standards of the women and more than Harry thought to own under the care of the Dursleys.

The final verdict of the day had him being given:  
underwear x7  
socks x7  
sweaters x2  
pants x7 - charmed to protect against minor magics & remain a set temperature  
dragon hide boots x3  
a wool hat  
scarf  
cloak x2  
shirt x7 - charmed to protect against minor magics & remain a set temperature  
PJs x2  
slippers  
over robe x3  
wand holster x2  
a new trunk - multi-compartment & warded  
any missing & supplementary books year 1-4  
sundry school supplies  
an extra uniform - to last him until the end of school

"I'm not going to be able to repay you am I?" Harry asked quietly. He wasn't just asking about the money, from all accounts he could have bought this and far more himself. No the debt he felt he now owed them was more for the help and the support than for them buying the things that he needed.

" _We_ are the ones in debt to _you_ , not the other way around," Lucius pointed out with a snort of amusement. "Besides you have now been identified as a valid shopping target. Expect for them to randomly kidnap you to try and give you what they term a _proper_ wardrobe. To them what you got today wasn't even a _basic_ wardrobe."

Harry shuddered and silently acknowledged that, yes, that was a major drawback but he could use that later to put off questions if he had too. The trip back to the castle was uneventful for all that Lucius came with them to provide excuses for them. Harry attempted to look properly cowed and terrified, giving exaggerated furtive looks between Pansy, Millicent, Draco, and his new packages of clothes. It didn't take long for word to spread that he was their new fashion project and he didn't even have to say a word.


	12. School Politics, Elf Loyalty

It was dinner time after the shopping trip and as Harry went about indicating that he was a fashion project he also paid attention to everyone who noticed him. Sadly no one but his table mates, the Weasley twins, and Professor Snape really noticed his place at the Slytherin table until a shout went up half way through the meal from Ron no less. The instant scrutiny had Harry sighing in resignation as he waited for the demands for information and for them to notice his altered uniform. The blow up from Ron alone promised to be epic.

Ron drew attention from everyone as he stalked over towards the Slytherin table, hateful eyes fixed on Harry. The red eyes drifted from Harry's face as he came to a stop across from the fourth champion. They landed on Harry's new crest and the new colors infusing the standard red and gold.

"Traitor! You should have died with your parents! Setting the twins on me was low you bloody snake. You've corrupted my own brothers!" Ron practically screamed at his former friend. "I hope the next task sends you to join them."

Harry didn't notice the uproar that erupted around him as he breathed through the feeling of being gutted. It wasn't the first time such hateful words had been directed at him, wishing his death or claiming his parents didn't care in some fashion. The repetition didn't make it hurt any less but it did give him a better idea of how to control the inevitable emotional pain.

Harry only vaguely heard the punishment of detentions for the rest of the year, 200 points lost, a letter to his parents, and a limit to his final exam grades for the year. He _did_ hear Dumbledore protest the punishment, suggesting something obscenely low for the actual punishment that snapped Harry out of his pain filled stupor.

"I take it that you don't want me at Hogwarts at all?" Harry's voice rang out flatly, silencing the Great Hall.

"I want you gone! It is your fault that Ginny got possessed and nearly dead in second year! Your fault I had to face those bloody giant spiders! Your fault I nearly wind up dead, every, Year! I don't care that Dumbledore wants us to play nice anymore. I don't care that he says we need you. You are a death trap for anyone that gets near you! Stay Away From My Family you _Freak!_ " Ron roared just as the twins started hitting him with a barrage of angry prank spells.

Harry couldn't bring himself to do anything but sit there feeling numb. He couldn't eat, couldn't drink, couldn't twitch or even blink. He barely felt the hands of the Slytherin students catch him as he started to slump over and lay him down. Everything was just too much for him. He passed out.

Harry didn't even see the house elves arrive in a loud series of pops, lead by Dobby.

"Youse no say Master Harry Potter Sir need be dead!" Dobby screamed as the entire contingent of elves glared at the angry redhead that now sported a purple Mohawk and dressed in a Lolita maid outfit thanks to the twins.

"Youse hurt young Master. Youse hurt Castle Heir," the elves muttered angrily. They strained at the binding magic connecting them to the castle so hard that they made it visible as golden strands. The only elf that was unbound was Dobby and he took full advantage of it.

"Youse no hurt Master Harry Potter Sir again! Youse no longer Master Harry Potter Sir's Wheazey! Youse no allowed in Hoggywarts any more! Youse wish Castle Master dead. Youse threat! Youse go bye bye!" Dobby declared angrily before snapping his fingers and dumping Ron outside the gates of the castle to land on the opposite side of Hogsmeade, painfully.

The last thing that the elves did was wake their young master and punish everyone but Professor Snape and the Slytherins by taking away the rest of supper.

"Youse no hurt young Master in own home!" the Head Castle elf declared before they all left with a set of rolling pops.

"Pothead, your luck is insane again," Draco declared loudly before quickly finishing his food before it too disappeared and breaking Harry out of his pain filled funk in the process. Harry laughed hoarsely but didn't argue, opting instead to sit up and finish his own supper before someone tried to take it away out of spite.

"I do believe that everyone but my Slytherins and Mr. Potter have just been punished like naughty little children by the house elves and sent to bed without supper. For our visitors I will see about getting supper returned to as you obviously have no idea what is going on nor are you in any way a part of what just happened. I do apologize for the inconvenience. Please ignore any pranks that will likely be played on those attending Hogwarts for the time remaining during your visit. An angry house elf is a dangerous one and the pranks are preferable to what else such beings may choose to inflict on those who have invoked their ire. For those who may find themselves on the wrong end of the anger of the house elves see me about getting it dealt with as Mr. Potter has not yet taken command of the elves nor does he yet know how. I have obviously been drafted as the sole staff member to act as go-between owing to the fact that I still have my own supper. Professors Moody and Flitwick I will need a word with you later," Snape announced gravely on behalf of and to the school before turning back to his own meal.

As if to prove the elves had been listening the supper of all the visitors returned from where they disappeared as did the meals of the two named Professors, the Weasley twins, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Cedric Diggory, and every first or second year at every table. Everyone else was left to go hungry, barred from even taking something off of a filled plate as evidenced by the yelps of those who tried it only to receive a stinging hex for their trouble. The majority of the castle residents went to bed hungry that night.


	13. Its A Boy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to everyone affected by Irma, especially our fellow author Sugahhuney who is down in the affected area. May god bless you all and keep you safe as the storm passes over you all.  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Long before supper was officially over discussion over what had just happened sprang up. There was a lot of complaining about not getting supper from the third years and above along with quite a bit of blaming Harry. There was also speculation about Ron's commentary and if Dumbledore really had decided who Harry could have as friends and what else the man might be controlling. There was little commentary about the attempt to change Ron's punishment since most remembered or heard about the stunt he pulled at the end of Harry's first year. There was actually more compliments for Harry finally refusing to let Dumbledore treat him as a pet than anger over the lost meal. After all there was no question in the student's minds that Ron had gone too far.

Just after supper Ron tumbled through the giant hidden fireplace in the Great Hall to land sprawled, unconscious near the door. The howler that had been attached to him as he passed through the floo activated once he stopped rolling.

" **Albus! This is the last bloody time I rescue whichever one of your students has pissed off the castle house elves! I may be your brother but I am _not_ a retrieval and delivery service! I run a _pub_ , not an aparation and floo landing service for live packages! Knowing you, you didn't even bother moving from dinner or think of fetching the brat. I take it as a given now that since he is wearing red and gold he won't be punished properly for setting off a house elf and ruining my own evening. Expect a visit from the brat's guardians since I penned them a letter via Gringotts before sending him to you, so don't bother trying to intercept it or cover it up. Enjoy the parental screaming!** ~With great annoyance, Aberforth," the howler informed the room before exploding in a brief firework of a green goat.

"That was, bloody, _brilliant!_ " the Weasley twins alternated while both speaking on the last word even as everyone watched the Headmaster rub at his face. They didn't have the chance to pounce on the golden pranking opportunity as everyone was sent off with supper being officially over. A scowling McGonagall took Ron to the infirmary. The visiting schools took their cue from the Hogwarts students and their respective quiet explanation not to interfere... _yet_.

While information hadn't been actually announced the school as a whole was not completely clueless. The information was there in all of its bits and pieces, they simply hadn't bothered to consciously put it together. As a result the unexpected announcements of the last 48 hours hadn't had the same shock value as who was dating who and what adventure Harry had completed that year. This all culminated in once again making Harry the subject of discussion but also avoided having the school freak out.

They would wait and watch and depending on how well Harry or the staff did in dealing with the mess the school would act. There were reasons why the staff avoided rousing the anger of the entire school. They did _not_ want to face that many partially trained witches and wizards in a fury. Teaching was dangerous enough as it was and they were even paid a hazard bonus under certain circumstances. This was in addition to needing to have a certain certification and experience level to even _attempt_ teacher training, or at least it was required when Dumbledore didn't interfere.

The unspoken threat of a mob attack by angry students was something no one was thinking of... yet. Time would tell if Harry's skill or Dumbledore's meddling roused the sleeping dragon.

Harry took the dismissal from dinner, accompanied by the rest of Slytherin house, as a chance to follow Professor Snape towards his office. Professors Flitwick and Moody were ushered along with the mass of silver and green even as everyone kept them towards the middle of the group near Harry. Everyone who hadn't been at the bank broke off for the common room when they got to the entrance but the Slytherin fourth years kept the two extra professors and Harry moving towards Snape's office without a backwards glance.

It took almost no time at all for Severus to secure the room but he still kept one eye on his visitors at all times. His Slytherins easily picking up on his watchfulness and arranged to have good shots at the two visiting professors even as Draco kept Harry out of the potential line of fire. Flitwick ignored the interaction beyond noting that whatever was going to be discussed meant that the situation was obviously serious and potentially dangerous. Moody, on the other hand, thought he might have been discovered but that Snape was potentially still loyal since he wasn't already facing Dumbledore or Aurors. The fact that Potter was there was less concerning then it would have been before his little blow up in the Great Hall.

Just as the staring contest got really started and the last temporary ward settled into place Harry broke the silence. "So... how are you both _Barty_ and _Moody_?" he asked.

"Polyjuice," Moody answered shortly, ignoring the immediate threatening wand movements from everyone except Harry.

"Huh, that makes sense. Tastes like shit and doesn't last long enough but it works I suppose," Harry agreed with a bit of pondering.

"Do I want to know exactly how you know what Polyjuice tastes like?" Snape groaned.

"Second year... lets just say that _I_ wasn't the one to steal the boomslang skin... or brew it," Harry said cheekily.

"Granger?! Well that explains why we had so much trouble reversing her transformation. Why the devil did she use cat hair? That potion is only designed for human to human transformation," Severus demanded.

"We thought it was human and she didn't know that her target had a cat. Not enough recon," Harry shrugged in a complete lack of concern.

"That was you and Weasel during the winter holidays?! Merlin! I can't believe I fell for it!" Draco groaned in complete mortification.

"If they actually wear masks like you said at the bank why didn't you pick up on it?" Harry asked with obvious interest.

"Because the prat didn't look at them properly until _after_ whatever you two pulled on him. They got three weeks of homework help out of him free as an apology," Pansy smirked. Draco cursed quietly about blackmail but didn't deny it. Neither of the named boys had come with the group and thus couldn't defend themselves.

"Voldy and the goblins said to talk to the two of you," Harry said, changing the subject.

"Did he actually say that? Was it a demand or only implied?" Severus drawled, relaxing just a touch but refusing to lower his wand further.

"Um... word for word?" Harry asked tentatively.

"If possible," Severus agreed curtly.

"I accept your offer of assistance Potter. Once this... mind link, thank you for informing me of it, is properly identified we will discuss a further association. Whether that association is your service to me as a member of the Dark or a full alliance will be determined later. I may even give you one of my people as a gift. For now get Severus and Lucius to sort out your situation and ensure that you are no longer in the control of whoever currently holds your guardianship. Barty or Professor Moody as you know him will provide further aid and information upon your return to the school. Win the competition. You have permission to tell the Slytherins with you of me but your schoolmates must give a vow of secrecy. Welcome to Slytherin house, Potter. We will see how well you acquit yourself in your new position," Harry quoted, using all of his concentration to get it right and missing the reaction of everyone else.

"Oh dear," Professor Flitwick said faintly.

"Before you go and try to tell the Headmaster Filius you have been granted the brat's wizarding guardianship while the goblins hold his primary guardianship. Harry?" Severus explained, looking pointedly at the green-eyed brat in question.

"Right. Er, you each get a copy of my goblin test. One for Professor Flitwick as my new guardian along with a letter and one for Voldy," Harry told them, hastily handing out the paperwork.

While the two nominal adults read it while under wand point Harry was kept back in case someone tried something stupid or heroic.

"I... am speechless. There is no way in _hell_ you are returning to any previous guardian _including_ the Headmaster!" Flitwick spat after only reading the letter. "Severus, I will need a blood adoption potion at some point and if you can hide when it was administered that would be wonderful. It will be a challenge not to simply demand a blood duel with Dumbledore over this but young Harry is more important right now. When it is discovered we can claim that I privately gave Lily a bit of blood for use in helping to protect Harry but that I agreed to Obliviation for the particulars, which is true enough as far as it goes."

"This test... how accurate is it?" Moody asked with unnerving intensity.

"They said it was goblin magic and stronger than the standard test," Harry admitted.

"The Dark Lord is said to be of the Slytherin line but this test shows that you are as well. Either you are the Dark Lord's heir or he is your heir under the Slytherin Lordship. Either way I doubt that the family charter will allow the two of you to kill each other. He must be shown this immediately," Moody informed them.

"That was kind of the point of giving you the test to deliver," Harry said sarcastically. Draco glared at him, he did _not_ want to have to dodge spell fire from an Auror or whoever Moody really was.

"So basically the goblins said that I could use my wand freely because of being in the tournament but that as their ward I have to learn some things before they count me as an adult..." Harry started to explain, only to be interrupted by a squeak of shock from the small Charms Master. He had finally finished looking over the test and was now vibrating with excitement.

"You are being considered for full goblinship!" Flitwick squeaked in a mix of shock and happiness. "Simply classifying you as an important asset, level 5 at minimum, would have fulfilled the note at the end of the test but full goblinship establishes a permanent claim! How wonderful!"

"What exactly does this entail?" Severus asked warily.

"He will need lessons in weapons and goblin culture as well as dueling lessons. Any craft or mastery he chooses will be covered by the clan. The magic claimed him as ours and the law reference specified that he has already proven his worth as a clan member. All other tests will be mostly a formality and to make certain he has learned his lessons. Unless he does something completely reprehensible or breaks one of our major laws worthy of banishment he can't actually loose his place as one of the clan! Before you protest Mr. Potter you are not the only person this has happened to, simply the most recent. It also makes me wonder about your adventures each year because the magic reference for the natural testing under Grinhock's Blood Adoption is generally something that would kill a Defense Master or even a Combat Master. Oh dear, hiding this is going to be next to impossible. We can check his spell casting first and work on some basic unarmed combat or at least teaching him how to fall before the third task. We will have to reveal the change of guardianship publicly and possibly the reasons for it so that Albus doesn't try to over turn it," Filius started planning.

"Potter you _will_ be giving me the memories of your so called adventures to view," Severus growled. He knew the arms of his Slytherins were likely starting to bother them by now but he refused to loose the split second advantage of having the other two Professors at wand point if things still turned sour.

"Right so we can assume Potter needs to live and that Dumbledore is playing puppet master or trying to at any rate... Would you lot put your wands away? I'm not going to do anything!" Moody snapped in irritation. A look at Snape from the Slytherins, who inclined his head and lowered his wand, and the fourth years followed suit. Everyone picked a seat or made one before settling down into a proper meeting with wands put away and tea quickly called for.

"Just for the record I hate my fame and would rather be just Harry," Harry sighed.

"No fear of that happening. That living in interesting times curse forever bans you from being left alone," Moody pointed out with a snort. "Best get used to it."

"There is also other stuff that won't let you hide which just makes it worse but you've survived it so far," Blaise pointed out. Harry grimaced but didn't bother arguing with them.

"What exactly was your mission any way?" Harry asked Moody.

"Get you into the tournament and get you to win it while teaching Defense. I didn't lie when I told you cheating was a traditional part of it either," Moody admitted. "The cup at the end of the third task will take you to the Dark Lord for a... meeting."

"Well that's one way to do it," Harry admitted with a blink of surprise. "Next time you talk to him you might want to ask if we shouldn't find a less public way for me to visit."

"You aren't going alone. Getting you killed is hardly at the top of our agenda," Severus growled moodily.

"After seeing this test and his public statement of not fighting for the light, even if I covered for him, I really don't blame you. I'll see what the Dark Lord has to say but there isn't a way to get you out of the tournament at this point," Moody sighed.

"The blocks and tracking spells will have to go as soon as the guardianship change is announced. The healing... well that will take months of care no matter what we do. Severus I would really appreciate your help in all of this," Filius requested.

"You have it. I already promised the healer that I would be doing the brewing and worked out a healing plan for him. He can't afford to be starved again any time soon, blocks or no blocks," Severus admitted with a grimace.

"He's not going back to the Lions! He's ours now," Draco insisted stubbornly.

"The castle moved him into the personal rooms of Salazar Slytherin off of the common room. Of course we aren't giving him up!" Severus drawled.

"Oh! That reminds me. I, Jason Harrison Potter also known as Harry James Potter, formally invite Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape to live with me in my home of Hogwarts year round should they choose to do so," Harry said solemnly. The magic crackled, heavy in the air as it waited for a response.

"I accept," Severus said regally.

"As do I!" Filius said happily.

The magic settled on the two, soaking into them as it already had with Harry overnight, identifying them as permanent castle residents and making the wards sing happily.

"We need to hide him in the snake pit before someone tries to force him back into Gryffindork territory," Millicent pointed out, looking pointedly at a spelled time display.

They quickly broke up for the night.


	14. The Third Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, you guys are getting multiples today. Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The remaining time leading up to the third task was very nearly a form of hell for Harry. Some how Ron had rationalized that his getting tossed around by the elves, yelled at by his mother, and his sister's stalker tendencies in following Harry around were all Harry's fault. He had also found like minded students and they did their best to bully and hurt the young champion. Thank god for Slytherin house because they rallied around Harry. The support and escorts they gave him made all the difference.

Harry was just leaving the first transfiguration class after the trip to the bank when McGonagall saw her family crest on Harry's hand, invisible to all but family, and pounced.

"Where did you get this?!" She cried, grabbing his ring wearing hand and waving it in his own face. " _How_ did you get this?! My sister should..."

Severus stalked over just as the proud lioness broke down sobbing, falling to her knees even as her death grip on Harry never loosened. Everyone else was staring at her as if she had gone mad, unable to see the ring. Her younger colleague arrived, lifting her back to her feet and whispering soothing words as he guided her out of the corridor. Harry trailed along sheepishly behind them, the grey haired witch's grip never fully leaving his wrist as if afraid he would disappear. Harry vaguely heard some Prefect or other scattering the other students to their classes before the privacy spell went up.

"We went to Gringotts the other day and found that Lily was adopted. We had plans to approach you about our discovery about the McGonagall Lordship soon but... you saw the ring," Severus explained soothingly. "Its not safe for him in the Lion's den anymore but my snakes have grown protective of him after his second outburst in the Slytherin common room the other night. Your cub will come to no harm as he has been accepted among my snakelings."

"I had no idea... I was going to try and help any way but..." McGonagall practically sobbed even as she dragged Harry into a bone crushing hug. She felt her grand-nephew flinch in her grasp and the way his new clothes covered raised skin that _had_ to be scars of some kind.

"Wha..What?! How the devil did you get such scars that I can feel them through your shirt and robe?!" McGonagall asked in shock, clutching him even closer in a protective hug.

"The previous guardianships have been permanently revoked on grounds of abuse by Gringotts," Severus said quietly.

" _What?!_ I told Albus! I _told_ him! The worst sort of muggles! Oh my god... Harry should have come to me or one of the black sisters! I wouldn't have shown up on any test with the way my sister was kidnapped and hidden from us at the time. With Lily's adoption on top of it... The only way we knew she lived or at least had a child before dying was the fact that the Lordship hadn't passed to me. To find that Harry... Oh god," Minerva sobbed. She sat there hugging and rocking Harry in her arms as Severus stood guard over them near by.

When she finally wound down enough to loosen her hold on Harry he had finally relaxed in her grip enough to get drowsy.

"What happens now? Who holds his guardianship if it isn't Albus or rather He-Who-I-Am-Going-To-Hex?" Minerva asked softly, not wanting to wake Harry up and let him out of her arms.

"Filius and the goblins hold his guardianship but both Andromeda and Narcissa have been promised that they could train him in the Black family magics and traditions. I am certain that the same could be arranged for you... later. Dumbledore has proven himself a danger and we are in talks with the Dark Lord about ending his attempts on Harry. Something that there will likely be a cost to," Severus answered, equally softly.

"Even if he wasn't my family lord I would likely try to follow Harry over Albus. He is a fine young man, powerful, resourceful, and a trouble magnet to boot," Minerva gave a watery chuckle.

"But the oath to the order would force you to obey Albus over Harry," Severus concluded. Minerva nodded sadly.

Severus, as a spy, hadn't been forced to take an oath like the rest of Dumbledore's vigilante group that had formed to fight against the Dark Lord. As a result he was only bound by his Loyalty Oath to the Dark Lord which was part of gaining the Dark Mark and his Unbreakable Vow to protect Harry, nothing else. Since both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord had tasked him with spying on the other he could walk the line without setting off either the Loyalty Oath or the Unbreakable Vow.

"Harry needs extensive healing from the abuse but first he must survive the tournament. Dealing with the Dark Lord and Albus will come later," Severus pointed out. "We are missing lunch, something Harry can't aford to do just now. Let me order us some food before we send him off back to class."

"What made him so tired that he fell asleep on us through my crying jag?" Minerva asked quietly as they waited for lunch to arrive.

"A mix of nightmares and the Dark Lord getting his copy of Harry's inheritance test. It stressed him out to be interrogated over the mind link they share. The meeting is supposed to be after the third task but we still haven't succeeded in deciding the best time to announce the change in guardianship and the reason for it. We want Harry to be able to handle it but to keep him from going back it must be done soon," Severus explained kindly.

As Minerva processed that they woke Harry and ate their meal in quiet contemplation before rejoining the rest of the school.

The day of the third task dawned with Harry still living with the Slytherins, much to Dumbledore's consternation. He had tried to force Harry back to Gryffindor tower the same day that McGonagall found out what was going on. As a result he had to face an enraged lioness along with an annoyed serpent and a protective raven, putting him at immediate odds with three of his four Heads of House. The dark mutterings of _puppet master_ by the Slytherins gave the visiting schools an idea of what was going on and as a result both Harry and Cedric were not faulted for the mess Dumbledore was making trying to throw his weight around.

The morning started out with the paper tossing everything on its head by announcing Harry's change in guardianship along with the reasons for it, complete with interviews of the Dursleys. Upon seeing the blaring headline Harry winced and tried to sink into his seat. He had been forced back to the Gryffindor table for the day and dreaded facing the families of the other champions. He knew there would be no one spending time with _him_ as family. He had no idea how wrong he was.

"Potter, you will be spending the day with Filius and Minerva in their alternate capacities. The Headmaster in his _wisdom_ arranged for the Weasleys to be here as your family for the day," Severus informed him sarcastically. There was no reason to give the other Lions _ideas_ after all. Harry was miserable enough sitting with red and gold as it was.

"Thank you Professor but I think I might just hide until the task," Harry said softly.

"My family not good enough for you Potter?" Ron demanded in an ugly tone with a sneer that made Harry flinch.

"Now Ronikins, if Harry wants to take the day and finish planning how to tackle the task we should let him," Fred scolded cheerfully.

"We've got quite a bit of money riding on our ikle brother Harry winning and we don't appreciate you trying to get him killed you _prat_ ," George agreed smacking their brother over the head with a rolled up newspaper like a misbehaving puppy.

Harry knew they didn't care as much about the money as long as he survived. Unknown to anybody but him he also had plans to help them with whatever their project turned out to be once the mess of the tournament was over. The duo had been _fantastic_ in helping him over the last weeks since Ron went off his rocker and Harry lost his temper with the Wizarding World.

"Lab three is open you two menaces," Snape drawled, his lips twitching in a suppressed smile. "Take the green-eyed imp with you before your mother gets here."

"Sir! Yes, sir!" The twins chorused before grabbing Harry and bolting from the hall with him protesting all the way.

A discrete spell put two nutrient potions in Harry's pocket along with a note to take them and a wrapped meat pasty for his breakfast. The note also told them to call for lunch wherever they finally ended up hiding for the day.

"Where are they off to?" Filius asked as Snape re-took his seat at the teacher's table. Dumbledore was in deep discussion with the other Judges making it safe to ask.

"I sent them to the labs with tacit permission to brew pranks all day. Harry has two nutrient potions and a meat pasty in his pocket for breakfast as well as instructions to call an elf for lunch. The three of us will have to deal with the Weasley brood Albus invited as Harry's family but I think being able to hide until he has to run the maze will help him calm down. If it doesn't those twins of his will distract him nicely," Severus explained softly.

"Thank you Severus," Minerva said gratefully.

"I'll check over his gear later and make sure nothing nasty is on it. Maybe slip a knife in his boot lining as an emergency tool," Filius pondered. They had learned that Harry had taught himself to fall nearly perfectly because of _Harry Hunting_ , as a result they had finished his falling training in record time and started him on other movement basics.

"I'll have the healing potions ready to add to the hidden pockets before the task," Severus promised. Some of the potions they were giving Harry to carry needed to be fairly fresh and the labels had to carry basic use instructions in addition to the potion name.

"I guess I get to deal with Molly Weasley," Minerva grimaced to the chuckles of the two men. She succeeded in handling the woman masterfully that day while Harry hid with the twins brewing potions. 

Out of politeness Snape told the other champions and their families where Harry was and while Harry did meet with them they understood his wish to be left alone. Each champion and their family stayed talking with him no more than a half hour before leaving him to his brewing with the twins. Fleur's family made him promise to contact them if he ever needed help and made it very clear that by saving Gabriel in the second task he had befriended the family for life.

Dinner was insane but the champions were mostly left alone because the task was immediately afterwards. The champions were getting dressed and sent down to their tent about half way through dinner, escorted by Professor Snape. Once they were inside the tent he tossed up a privacy spell and addressed the champions.

"Now that we are away from prying eyes and ears I need to speak with the four of you. Harry because of your previously discovered health situation you have healing potions in the hidden pockets of your robes, share them if you wish. The Judges and everyone else are unaware of any of this to avoid... issues. As a part of the Gringotts security contract regarding this tournament I must inform you that it is not safe for anyone but Mr. Potter to claim the final cup at the center of the maze as it has been tampered with. The reason it is safe for him is because of an ongoing secret negotiation of which Mr. Potter is a primary participant. I will personally arrange for you to receive compensation for this security breach and I do apologize for the inconvenience. The first arrival to the cup shall still be honored as the winner of the tournament. If those in charge decide to be stupid about all of this I will arrange for you to be compensated properly. Are there any questions?" Snape asked them.

"Why didn't he just send me a letter?" Harry groaned, mortified that Voldemort was still going the public kidnapping route.

"I don't know but I suspect its because Dumbledore is monitoring your mail," Severus admitted. Harry started quietly cursing and the other champions just looked at them.

"So... are you going to share the healing potions?" Cedric asked as a way to break the awkward silence that was quickly developing.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Harry agreed quickly, finding the pockets and the healing potions within he handed them out.

"Filius and I am glad we confirmed the adoption potion last night," Severus informed Harry.

"Me too. Its still weird that mum had sent me that potion so that the Professor blood adopted last week. I'm glad you checked it for me before I obeyed the compulsion to drink it," Harry agreed happily. At this point he didn't care about anyone finding out and this was the perfect way to let the news out.

"Finding out that Filius had agreed to it even if he didn't remember and that the owl had been lost for some time was a bit of a shock. If your mother hadn't been so good at charms the stasis charm might have failed before it got to you," Severus agreed with open amusement. "I think it should have gotten to you within a week of your parent's death. The spell work was certainly tailored for it."

"Still weird to suddenly have him for a dad," Harry's grin was pure mischief.

"Alright, enough imp. I have to go find my seat. Do _not_ get yourself killed. That goes for all of you," Severus told them all severely.

"Yes, sir," was the general response as the Potion Master broke the privacy spell and headed for his seat in the stands.

Running the maze was terrifying, challenging, and exhilarating for Harry. He got into a brief duel with the other contestants several times and facing all of the different creatures and spellwork was a mix of interesting and challenging. By the time he got to the center of the maze he was panting and exhausted but very very glad that Snape had talked to the other champions. All three of them were waiting for him in the clearing and not a one had touched the cup.

"So... want to tell us what's really going on Potter?" Cedric asked cautiously. He had worked hard on the other champions to get them to go along with it all until they could quiz Harry themselves.

"Erm, you won't believe me?" Harry offered sheepishly as he fought to catch his breath.

"Try us 'Arry," Fleur shot back.

"Voldemort is coming back and I'm trying to get him to not kill me and to not go killing and torturing people. I'm not actually sure what everyone was fighting over the first time so I can't comment if either side was right or wrong. The cup will take me to him so we can finish negotiating or at least get him a proper body so that we can actually talk properly. I'm... linked to him. Its part of what made talking to him even possible the last month. I tried to talk him out of the public kidnapping but it clearly didn't work. Once I get more information than that Voldemort is all things evil and Dumbledore is all things good I can start sorting out what's going on. My magic is more emotion based making me Dark which is part of my outburst in the Great Hall. Dumbledore hasn't been letting me learn what I'm supposed to and it upset a lot of people, including me. I'm sorry about the tournament but I really didn't have anything to do with it," Harry told them honestly.

"May we come with you?" Krum asked, completely dropping his accent beyond more than a faint burr in his voice. The immediate agreement of the other two champions floored Harry.

"Why would you want to?" Harry asked, completely baffled.

"Maybe to keep your skinny butt out of trouble?" Cedric offered with a grin.

"Or to meet the Dark Lord," Krum pointed out.

"Um, he's not kittens and puppies... he might kill you for coming with me," Harry pointed out uncertainly.

"Leave 'hat to us," Fleur said very firmly. Harry's protective instincts decided to kick in at that point and his decision settled firmly into his mind.

"Er... sorry!" Harry blurted out as he made a mad dash for the cup. His hand touched it, snatching him away before the protests of the others faded and the thrown bodybind managed to hit him.

Harry landed with a whuff of air forced from his lungs in a graveyard. Before he could catch his breath he felt the stunner land, sending him into darkness.


	15. Pranks Galore!

"I am _not_ letting him go back to the old fool!" the hissing voice argued back, waking Harry from his forced slumber. Holding still Harry listened to the argument continue around him.

"We've already removed his guardianship and cemented it further to the goblins by a blood adoption. If we remove him from Hogwarts completely we have no idea what Dumbledore will try to do. As it is we will have to have him landing at the bank in a special room as a part of the extra security arrangements under my contract with the bank. The fact that his fellow champions covered for him and asked if the portkey was prepared wrong is the only thing that makes this salvageable. They also want a chance to scold him for not taking them with him," Snape's voice explained carefully. "Your new body isn't up for dueling anyone as of yet."

"If they had Wormtail would have killed them... they owe him a life debt. If he is going back he doesn't leave your side my Severus. He is more important than simply being my Heir. There is a chance that Dumbledore realizes this and is trying to turn him into a mindlessly obedient weapon to either force him to kill me or force me to kill him, neither of which is acceptable any longer. Make sure he is fully healed, including fixing his eyes. I want him taught what Dumbledore has denied him. Depending upon certain things he will be allowed to actively participate in this conflict or he will be kept protected... Is that acceptable Harry?" Voldemort informed them, his last question clearly showing that he knew Harry was awake.

"Don't lie to me and don't treat me like a pet or a weapon. I might argue with you but I'll try to do it in private or in Parseltongue so it doesn't hurt your standing with the minions," Harry offered, opening his eyes to a richly appointed, if dusty, room.

"Acceptable then," Voldemort chuckled from his floaty chair that Harry remembered from his first vision. The deformed baby shape appeared to have grown and shifted so that the man now looked as if he were a cancer patient who had just started on the road to recovery. Harry could clearly see the diary's handsome strength in the emaciated form but the bit of hair just starting to grow in told him that the man was still changing, still healing.

"There was a question about the raids?" Severus offered cautiously.

"We will return to our original goals and once more try for peaceful, if rapid and important, change. The statute of secrecy needs to be more firmly enforced and those children in the muggle world need closer watching along with greater protection. Harry's situation is one of the more extreme examples why. The deaths and the tortures will be reduced as much as possible. They were allowed to get out of hand the last time, granted I was part of that but at least I now know what caused it thanks to the return of the diary piece. It will be corrected properly once I am strong enough to retrieve what I left with Bellatrix and some thing I left on the other end of the village. More proof than hearsay will be required for punishment or retaliation from now on," Voldemort promised.

"That's good," Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He had been really worried about the killings and the torture he had heard about. Yes, this was confirmation that it had happened to some extent but it was also an admission that they had gone too far and wanted to aboid that again. He also found out some of what the Dark stood for, which happened to be something that he could willingly support.

"As I suspect you still don't know why you are important beyond being my heir I must inform you that if the Horcrux is ever removed you must inform me immediately. If possible you need to fight to keep it. The magics to make one are dangerous and removing it from you could be even more dangerous than making it. I will not discuss it further at this time but it is part, not all, of the mind link we share," Voldemort warned cryptically.

"M'kay," Harry agreed with a yawn.

"Sleep, you arrived at Gringotts with the port key and were knocked out until I could retrieve you," Severus ordered.

"Alright," Harry agreed as he dropped back into the arms of Morpheus.

The jostle of landing at the school shook Harry from his log-like slumber. He vaguely heard the explanation to the Great Hall as he was walked, half asleep, to a seat at the Champions table that had been set up near the teacher's table.

"You are so dead when we get you alone," Cedric informed him quietly.

"Oui," Fleur agreed vehemently.

"Voldy said you guys owe me a life debt, whatever that is," Harry answered with a yawn. That really shut them up both because of the content and the fact that he still didn't know what a life debt was.

"Did you at least accomplish some thing?" Krum asked quietly.

"He's going to try to keep the killing and torture to a minimum and he didn't want me coming back. I'm also not on his _to kill_ list any more. He's going to try it peacefully again," Harry told them bluntly. "Thanks for covering for me. It made things a lot easier for Professor Snape to convince him I should come back."

"The story is that we were trying to take the cup together and share the victory but you timed it wrong and touched the cup too soon," Cedric informed him. "It was something we agreed on before you got to the cup as a precaution and because they wondered why we waited for you at the cup."

"That works. I didn't want to be in the tournament any way. If they give me the prize I'll just split it with you guys in front of everyone and we can keep to the sharing story... Who actually got there first?" Harry asked curiously.

"I did," Krum admitted. "Karkaroff is most displeased with me."

"Then tell him it was either that or meeting the Dark Lord. He gave away that he's scared with his mark getting darker earlier in the year when he ambushed Professor Snape right before class. He must have done something to piss him off. I still don't have enough information to officially join a side but right now I'm just happy that fewer people are going to try and kill me," Harry said with a shrug. He wasn't planning on telling them that he was Voldemort's Heir or that he _couldn't_ stay out of it even if he wanted to.

"Good to know," Cedric said as he choked back laughter at Harry's careless attitude. It was clear that Harry didn't think much of the Durmstrang Headmaster. Krum grunted his acknowledgement and took a bite of his potatoes, making it clear he didn't think much of the man either.

"My 'anks for zee warning 'Arry," Fleur said quietly before switching to scolding. "'Ext time you will _not_ trade yourself for us!"

"I think little Harrykins just got an older sister, Gred," George commented coming up behind the four champions, making them jump in surprise.

"I think you are right, Forge. Whatever shall we do with him and our new family members?" Fred lamented.

"Off with you tricksters! You have yet to turn Snape's robes sparkly blue or McGonagall's fire red with orange streaks! Nor have you turned Dumbledore moss green with pink hair! Begone until you have completed your tasks!"Harry ordered, smiling the entire time as laughter infected his eyes.

"As you command oh Lord of Adventure Pranks!" the twins declared while backing away bowing repeatedly while waving their arms in mock fear for their lives.

"Weasleys!" Snape shouted as the two broke into a run and bolted towards the Gryffindor table to pretend to cower behind Ron as everyone laughed at their antics. A quick look towards the Potions Master showed Harry that they had charmed the man's cup to constantly overflow with water in a mini rainbow waterfall.

The entire Slytherin table, bar the Durmstrang students, took the distraction as their cue to slip out of the Great Hall and fulfill Harry's prank on Draco. Ten minutes after they disappeared, once their head of House had calmed down, they started marching into the Great Hall in full Native American ritual costume.

The 1st years came first, their uniforms transfigured by older students into fringed leather pants and leather dresses. All of the undyed leather clothing was heavily embroidered with beads, shells, and feathers. They waved around bundles of leaves and feathers or tapped on sticks while making imitation war cries. They were followed by each year in order, the transfigured clothing sporting more and more green until they finally reached the 7th years clad in all different shades of green and silver. The 7th years entered carrying an oversized reed basket tied shut by strips of leather which was carried forwards to be set on the floor in front of the teacher's table and the champion's table.

"Professor Snape, Harry Potter, it has come to our attention that one of our own has acted dishonorably. As requested by Heir Potter we present the idiot to you for his actions!" little Marcel Pansby announced before opening the basket to reveal a disgruntled Draco Malfoy, tied up in grass rope.

Harry burst into joyful laughter at them actually doing the prank for him.

"50 points for following through on the house wide prank. As discussed the remainder of the lost hundred need to come from other staff members," Severus acknowledged regally, his lips twitching in a suppressed smirk.

"Why exactly were the points lost?" Filius asked in open amusement.

"My godson has been sabotaging Potter's potions. For the danger alone he lost 100 points and for the work he is making me redo in regards to Potter he is playing servant to Potter for 3 months next year since he didn't serve the section of time allocated to the end of the year. The servant part is informal and cleared with his father as the family punishment for his irresponsible actions. This does not apply to homework and it will hopefully end or at least tone down their rivalry. This prank was payment to avoid official action with the board and because Draco actually apologized for once," Severus told the rest of the staff happily. There was a murmur of appreciation and understanding among the Hogwarts staff.

"Very well done!" Dumbledore congratulated the procession, twinkling in open amusement and with a fond look aimed at Harry that made the younger wizard's skin crawl. "But now I think its time for the Staff's own plans to move forwards so please free Mr. Malfoy and return to your suppers while we decide if we can top such a performance."

The Slytherins complied, quickly canceling the transfigurations and retaking their seats. What followed irritated Harry greatly and had him following through on a very loud apology for "slipping" when it came time to take the cup together before promptly splitting the gold evenly between the four of them. The champions proceeded to chat about the tournament, completely ignoring the supposedly in charge officials and staff, much to the amusement of several teachers and many students. Every time someone tried to say it was Harry's win they worked together to say that they had all won. The audience had fun watching the machinations and how the four champions defused it every single time. Eventually the celebration and award ceremony was over, releasing everyone to do as they pleased.


	16. Shell Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, this one got too big for once so I'm giving you all the first part and then running off to finish the rest of it. Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Dumbledore had everyone see off their visitors together after breakfast before making his move just as he dismissed everyone to go about their business.

"Mr. Potter, my office if you please," Dumbledore ordered firmly before Harry could disappear back into the dungeons again. His words, much to his surprise, stopped the entirety of Slytherin house in its tracks.

"Do you want us to come with you Harry?" little first year Lulu asked shyly in her child's voice.

"Even if he doesn't at least some of us, and Professors Flitwick and Snape are going," Draco declared confidently, stepping forwards to stand next to his newest friend.

"They are hardly the only staff members interested in this meeting Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall pointed out with a glint of anger in her eyes as she met the Headmaster's surprised gaze. That opened the door to allow more than Dumbledore wanted to attend the impromptu meeting.

"I think everyone is going to be interested in this talk Albus," Moody barked in harsh humor. "You're slipping old friend."

"Unfortunately, I need to speak to Mr. Potter _alone_ ," Dumbledore informed everyone solemnly. The sharp sting in his tone deterred no one and seemed to make several of the Slytherins more determined not to leave Harry alone with him.

"I am afraid that at least the Heads of House need to be part of this meeting Albus. There have been some changes to Mr. Potter's status that need to be discussed," Filius said firmly. "You can have Alastor there to side with you if you like but you won't be seeing Mr. Potter alone any time soon, in part because of his status change."

Before the old man could argue further (digging his own grave deeper) Peeves arrived, whooping and cheering as he played catch with the loudly protesting sorting hat.

"Unhand me you bloody poltergeist!" the hat complained loudly, swooping through the air as he was tossed from disembodied hand to disembodied hand.

"Uh oh," Harry breathed, swearing under his breath. He didn't even need to look in the direction of the red-headed twins to know this was one of their ideas. Ever since he had let slip to them that he was supposed to be in Slytherin they had been trying to figure out how to get him, and themselves, into the house of serpents, preferably _without_ getting disowned.

"Hatsy, hatsy, hatsy! Deciding where ikle firsties go! But Peeves knows! Yes he does! Snakes hiding with the Lions! With the Birdies too! And some Birdies hiding with the Cats! Peeves knows about the Cat-Snake-Birdy-Badger too! The one that is all Hoggywarts and hiding where no one knows! Hatsy knows! And Peeves too!" Peeves cackled. He continued floating around playing catch with himself and the sorting hat, not a care in the world.

Harry could only feel dread even as Slytherin house casually drifted into a protective formation around him, knowing from the plaque by his new room exactly what Peeves was going on about. He knew if the hat landed on him he wouldn't get to choose the way he did the first time. He also knew that Dumbledore was going to be furious since he doubted he would be placed back with only the lions, not with how much they had hurt him over the years.

"Your luck is insane!" Draco hissed at him as everyone watched Peeves play with the sorting hat.

"Tell me about it!" Harry shot back sarcastically.

"Let us all ignore Peeves for the moment," Dumbledore instructed before turning on Harry again.

"Mr. Potter I am very disappointed in you, allowing the press to slander your loving relatives like that," Dumbledore started off with his most disappointed grandfatherly persona. "Thankfully a quick statement to the press will fix it. After all we don't want the public to think such terrible things are true do we?"

"Albus are you quite sane? Mr. Potter had nothing to do with it. If you will take a closer look at the article you will notice that the investigation was conducted by Gringotts. The article even notes that the results were issued by the bank to the press because they were unable to get an appointment with Wizarding Child Services, the Wizengamot, or Mr. Potter himself," Filius pointed out sternly, lying through his teeth about them not seeing Harry. They _had_ been trying to see him and it, combined with an unrepeatable distance medical exam, was a good excuse. "Indeed the special, _expensive_ bloodline magical health exam they did manage automatically revoked all previous guardianships and flat out ordered the goblin clan to assign him a new guardian while the clan maintained primary guardianship."

"That isn't possible!" Dumbledore protested in open disbelief even as his eyes betrayed his anger and fear that he had lost control of his weapon.

"They weren't wrong," Harry muttered angrily, fighting to ignore the renewed sense of betrayal from Dumbledore's actions.

"What did you say my boy?" Dumbledore inquired gently, inwardly seething. "I am sure we can work this out and put everything to rights with a little bit of work. No need to be concerned,you will be back with your loving relatives in a jiffy!"

"I said they weren't wrong, and don't call me your boy," Harry ordered angrily and loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Albus you won't be getting Mr. Potter's guardianship back," Filius informed him firmly, starting to get angry. "He will be living here at the school... with me. I am his new wizarding guardian. If anyone tried to remove his guardianship from me or assign it elsewhere I have been assured that the goblin nation will see it as a breach of the current treaty. I have also been informed that instead of the usual short but bloody punishments to the wizarding world _this_ breach of treaty will have a _much_ larger price to placate the goblin nation. I was only considered for his guardianship because of my own heritage. They seriously considered sending him to _Asia_ instead of allowing him to remain at Hogwarts."

"Indeed?" Severus prompted, arched eyebrow and all. He had to employ his Occlumency shields to keep from laughing outright at what Filius was doing to the manipulative old coot.

"Oh yes, their martial arts trainers are often familiar enough with magic that they could have taught him both. Of course if clan Gringotts resorts to moving him to the other side of the world they won't likely allow him to come back for at _least_ a decade if not longer depending on when he would complete his training. Thankfully I talked them into giving me a chance to train him myself," Filius said, projecting complete seriousness on the matter.

"Indeed? Well we can be glad for your quick thinking," Dumbledore said with an unaccountably parched throat and mouth. He had almost lost his weapon to the goblins of all things! This was something he was going to have to fix. Hopefully Fudge will be reasonable about returning the brat to his blood relatives.

Minerva could tell that her bosses mind was wandering towards protesting based on the blood wards. Before she could cut him off herself and unnecessarily reveal her connection to Harry, potentially putting everything at risk from being controlled again by Dumbledore, Filius handled it.

"Before you go thinking about spouting off about the blood wards again, we hear enough of it in the staff room, the test my kinsmen did revealed that Lily was adopted. The people you left Harry with are _not_ his family, _not_ his blood. He has a closer blood connection with the Blacks through his grandmother than those people," Filius informed him in a scolding tone.

"Did you not also donate blood to Lily for the added protection of her son?" Severus asked archly. He wanted it very clear that even a new blood adoption would not dislodge Filius as Harry's guardian.

"I did and, as you recall, the owl carrying the blood adoption potion, under a stasis charm, she made with it found Harry recently. You barely managed to check it and ask if he wanted the adoption before the compulsions Lily placed had him swallowing it. Completely legal, especially since it came from his natural mother. I promise you, Albus, that if you try to force _my son_ back to those **people** you will at the very least be facing me in a duel to the _**death**_ **!** " Filius told the old man flatly. The protective fire burning in his eyes awed Harry and forced Dumbledore back a step.

The two Professors quickly resorted to a staring contest, using a battle of wills to try and decide who had ultimate control of Harry. By this point they had completely forgotten their audience and said audience stayed as quiet as possible, not wanting to miss the out come of _this_ stand off. Even _Peeves_ , along with the captive Sorting Hat, was on the quiet side as they watched the two men face off.

What finally ended the stand off was _McGonagall_ of all people turning Dumbledore's hair bright pink his robes, originally unicorns and rainbows on a midnight blue background, completely mustard yellow. The distressed fabric unicorns and rainbows raced about the same color as their background crying mustard tears. The Weasley twins and Harry, the only ones aside from Severus to see who cast the spell, stared at the witch in utter shock.

"Minerva... I'm not entirely certain that those colors are better than what he was wearing before," Filius pointed out consideringly, outing her in the process. This comment caused Dumbledore to loose the staring contest and look down at his robes and beard in shock.

"Filius, I was with him the night Harry was placed with those ghastly people and I warned him repeatedly that they were the _worst_ sort of muggles. I tried to go back and check on Harry repeatedly but this... _old fool_ did something that kept me away. Even before my little break down earlier this month I was always relieved that Harry had made it to the school _alive_. I simply hadn't yet found a way to help. On that matter thank you for taking his guardianship. I can honestly only think of a few people whom Dumbledore couldn't convince or force to send him back to those monster and you are one of them... Severus is another but he has his own issues," Minerva told them all. Her words sent both pranked Headmaster and smirking Potions Master into splutters for different reasons.

"Eh tu, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked in a mix of sad disappointment and disturbingly effective puppy dog eyes.

"Ah! Make it stop! Make it stop!" the Weasley twins said dramatically. They openly protest of the use of the puppy dog eyes by the old man while covering their own eyes and scrambling about, occasionally bumping into each other, as if blinded by the effect.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Harry muttered quietly. Snape silently agreed as he handed off an anti nausea potion to the contested brat, who in turn swallowed it immediately and gave him a grateful look as he handed the empty vial back..

Peeves startled everyone by cackling loudly, reminding them all that he was there. The first person the hat landed on was a frantically dodging Hermione.

"You will go where I put you this time! No more arguments about wanting to be like Dumbledore! _RAVENCLAW!_... Next!" The hat declared loudly. Peeves had apparently talked the hat into _correcting_ what the hat probably viewed as mis-sorts.

Peeves wasted no time in snatching the animated hat from her head, dashing away cackling like mad. The colors on her uniform changed almost on the instant thus showing the support of the castle's magic in Hermione's house placement.

The rest of the school stared at her, obviously on the verge of tears, in a mix of surprise and dawning horror as they finally realized what the poltergeist was doing. Yes they would still be at the same school but being forced to change _houses?_ at the whim of _PEEVES?!_ This was an unknown nightmare come true for many of the students and staff.

"Make certain to hit Potter so that there is no doubt to which house he belongs. I don't want to have to listen to everyone's whining when we return next year," Severus drawled, smirking. He was glad for this since with the new colors Harry was sporting there was a very good chance of Harry's position in the school turning potentially ugly. This random resort would clarify if he was supposed to officially stay with the Lions or go elsewhere. "For those who _want_ to volunteer you need only simply state that you feel that you may currently belong in a different house better thus making an official re-sort request. The re-sort is not reversible if the hat places you somewhere new but you can request a second re-sort after 3 months. Keep in mind that the more times you are sorted the more control Alastor, the hat, has in where to place you. The limit is three times in total except under special circumstances."

The snarky words of the Potions Master broke Dumbledore from his frozen, horrified state as he whirled to lunge for the hat in a panic. Harry _must_ stay in Gryffindor!

"Yus sir! Professor sir!" Peeves cackled as he dodged students and staff alike.

"Don't forget the Weasley twins," Minerva added dryly, a wicked and vengeful light of mischief making her eyes glow slightly with just a touch of power. If Severus was going to completely take Harry from her she would at least threaten him with the possibility of having the twins in his snake pit. She casually petrified Dumbledore into a temporary statue mid-lunge, leaving his eyes as the only thing allowed any sort of free controlled movement.

Peeves accepted the dodging help with a gleeful cackle before going after various students. Luna landed in Slytherin with the twins, much to Snape's dismay. Neville landed in Hufflepuff with the Creevy brothers. Most everyone else stayed in their previous house but Cho Chang got Filius scolded for missing her rampant bullying. Then they came to Harry.

"Well now Mr. Potter, we meet again! Lets have a look shall we?" Alastor asked with a chuckle that was surprisingly deep for a scrap of fabric.

"Hullo Alastor, its nice to finally know your name," Harry chuckled right back and didn't fight the mental look-see that the hat was doing.

"He is still mostly Slytherin but only just barely more Slytherin than Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw... That said because of the unique balance and his heritage as the castle heir, especially since he is now aware of his heritage, he belongs to all the houses. As for quidditch... you get to pick which team you play for first but it rotates depending on the winners of each match. This sequence is dependent on you one way but otherwise the castle picks who you play for each game," Alastor explained. "Your rooms, Mr. Potter, are still the ones in the Slytherin common room as no one can revoke Salazar's gift to you."


	17. Summer Intrigue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note:  
> I don't mark things as chan if they are in the legal age bracket for the area that the characters are living in. This is largely due to the fact that the laws regarding safe relationship age vary widely depending on region and culture. Which is why I often include a long yet concise explanation about what law sets are being used in the story to base potentially problem relationships on in a story along with mitigating factors. In this case Harry is thought to be physically 15 by everyone as we start looking at this becoming Snarry. I can't promise if he is actually 15 or if he is 16 (the real life UK age of consent, not counting positions of authority) because of other magical factors and a potentially fickle muse... or Murphy.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hat's announcement had both shocked the school and left everyone unsurprised, after all _everything_ seemed to happen to Harry. This was the silent signal that they were done and everyone dispersed for their last couple of days at Hogwarts relaxing, or sorting out their new house situation. McGonagall collected Alastor the hat with a quiet congratulations before sending him off to relax. Everyone ignored the mostly stuck Dumbledore statue and left him to suffer through the day until the house elves finally took him to the hospital wing just before lunch.

Neville was immediately corralled by Cedric after a _look_ from Harry and kept protectively near the Hufflepuff champion and prefect. Harry had found an old pensive in the Room of Requirement and used it to show the other champions his memories of what was going on _after_ they gave a vow of conditional silence. He felt it was better then being held captive by the other three until he had explained himself and his stunt in the maze. Harry had been very careful to show them the memories in proper order after the award ceremony, during the _real_ party that was student arranged and run.

The twins had been quickly traded 4 galleons, one per champion, for the distraction to allow the champions to escape. They had also snagged a promise that if they could find the spell then everyone could view his memories of his yearly adventures either in the Chamber of Secrets or in the Great Hall. The Great Hall viewing would have certain requirements that the viewers would have to pass to watch. Harry also offered backing for their future prank shop on the grounds that they were _his_ prankster kings since they kept calling him brother. It was something they had promptly accepted with evil glee. The redheaded menaces had shocked him further by magically binding themselves to Harry as his vassals in front of the other champions.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Harry demanded in shock, completely stunned by this new turn of events.

"Claiming you as our lord," the twins chorused, wicked smirks of glee covering their faces in an odd mix of pranking rapture.

Cedric was the one to keep Harry from protesting further. He quietly explained that it was done and that the two were now his vassals. Harry would be able to tell them what to do and was the only one authorized to punish them but that the vow wouldn't come into full effect until at least the twins were 17. He was the lord and the twins were his knights. That was the end of the matter legally speaking. If they got into legal trouble he would have to punish them and depending on the offense would face a fine but they were _Harry's_ now.

"You two get to go volunteer to wash Snape's cauldrons and labs as detention for a week or the next three days from breakfast until dinner for not explaining first and not asking!" Harry ordered with a scowl. "You also have to tell Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, and your mum! I am _not_ taking the blame for this and even if I'm not friends with Ron any more he is probably going to blame me for it."

"Sir! Yes sir!" the twins chorused, laughing in happiness as they saluted their new lord. Their new status was kept remarkably quiet, so much so that Harry asked about it on the train platform in Hogsmeade where he was seeing everyone off.

"We swore mum and dad to silence," Fred explained happily. "We got it passed them as paying back the life debt Ginny owes you since you would be angry if they tried to marry Ginny to you to pay it back. It may be a traditional repayment but we figured you didn't want to get married to anyone that way."

"The 'fessors were a bit put out until they realized that you can help control our pranking but we are kind of hoping to get you to help us with that one," George agreed. "No one else knows except the other champions."

The trip to the chamber of secrets had been postponed except for a special one for the Slytherin seventh years and Cedric. Professor McGonagall couldn't come because she had to attend to her duties as Deputy Headmistress and Professor Snape had to brew for a few last minute sick students while Professor Flitwick dealt with his Ravens. To say that the group was impressed was an understatement.

"No wonder you got through Defense class so well," Said one shocked Slytherin as they all stared at the still fresh basilisk corpse.

"You should show this to Professor Snape," Someone insisted.

"Harry please tell me you don't come down here alone?" Cedric demanded, completely pale from the sight of the massive snake.

"No, I don't. That's why I stormed off to the Slytherin common room instead of down here when I lost my temper that time in the Great Hall," Harry explained in confusion, not understanding why the Hufflepuff was so worried. He had been taking care of himself for years and knew how to handle most things thanks to the Dursleys.

"That's fine then... guys why don't we go back upstairs since this place hasn't been checked and it would be bad if we lost Harry?" Cedric suggested to the group as a whole. They all agreed and Harry promised to get some of the staff to check for dangerous magics since no one had thought of it before with the end of the year packing and grading going on. Harry even made sure to seal the entrance properly to avoid accidents.

It wouldn't be until the next group was brought down that anyone else would enter the chamber.

Summer passed mostly uneventfully as Harry occupied himself getting caught up with various lessons he should have been taught before Hogwarts. He became familiar with several weapons as a part of his goblin training; namely the sword, the dagger, the knife, the staff, the spear, and the shield. He was more than a little surprised to find out that the goblins counted the shield as both an offensive and defensive tool. Weapons were called weapons and tools interchangeably since any tool could be a weapon and any weapon was in fact a tool of sorts.

The intensive potions review proved to Snape that he wasn't an idiot in the lab and that part of his problem was medical, namely his eyesight and small mis-healed bones and bone fragments in his hands and wrist. Another large chunk of his in class problems was also proven to be interference from fellow students. Draco and the Slytherins had been dealt with but the Gryffindors, namely Ron, was solved by having him sit with the Slytherins from now on. No one thought that Dumbledore would allow Harry's schedule to be anything but pure Gryffindor despite his new status will all four Heads of House now technically being his Head of House.

It was in fact an attempt to think up Harry's next lesson that lead him to discover something new about the young he was greatly coming to respect...

"What are the rules about relationships? Specifically staff-student ones?" Harry asked quietly a few days after his birthday as he walked with his guardian around the school. They were checking some of the out of the way places for damage and simply spending quiet time together.

"Because of who holds your guardianship, namely Gringotts and I, you have different restrictions. Regular students completely under the Ministry's authority are required to be either in a marriage contract, need to have already claimed a Lordship or Ladyship, be at least 17, not in the teacher's class and/or graduated to begin a relationship with a staff member. You, on the other hand, need to certify with the clan that you are not under undue influence, give good reason to both your guardian and the elders why the person would be a good asset to the clan. This is partly because you have become a member of the clan and whoever you finally marry would need to be assessed for clan membership. As the younger you would also have to be the one to initiate the relationship, your work under the other person needs be graded by someone else to assure a lack of grade tampering, and if it moves past casual the potential partner has to pass a goblin test... who are you thinking of pursuing?" Filius answered honestly.

"Snape," Harry admitted. The Potions Master had gone out of his way to apologize without actually apologizing again for his previous treatment of Harry.

Harry found it endearing and the crush he had been attempting to ignore or rather trying to destroy, and failing miserably at doing so, since being threatened with veritaserum was blooming with a vengeance. He was repeatedly embarrassed to find his mind wandering in the direction of outright asking for the man from the Dark Lord, pointing out that he _had_ been offered one of the minions. He also knew that the man himself would never stand for it and that once he found some way to get a form of permission from the Dark Lord to pursue Snape he would have to convince the man himself. The first step to even _attempt_ anything though was to make sure his current guardian couldn't or wouldn't try to stop him from making the attempt immediately.

"You have my blessing but I warn you that Severus is going to be stubborn about it. You may have to wait and simply work on him for years yet," Filius warned his son. "Write up the petition and I will owl it for you. It may take some time to get approval and nothing is likely to be allowed to happen past friendship until you are finished healing."

"I know and if I find myself loosing interest before he accepts me then I shouldn't have put him through it in the first place and I will back off. I'm going to start with friendship and see if he might think about it. No matter what happens I don't want to hurt him. I _hope_ he will find me worthy but I know that he might not," Harry agreed. "I'll give you the letter and my reasons with a list of good things about this later. I also still have to talk the Dark Lord into allowing it since I'd rather not have him coming back hurt all the time. Even if it doesn't go anywhere it should reduce how often he's hurting if I do this right. You know its funny, I started falling for him after one of his attempts to get me to admit to stealing from his potion ingredients or other rule breaking. I don't know how often the intimidation factor works for him but all I could think about was that I couldn't tattle on anyone and that I couldn't let him see how hot I thought he was being. I didn't actually lie to him but I also didn't tell him anything..."

As they chatted, heading for the teacher's private dinning area for lunch both were completely unaware of the darkly clad Potions Master hidden in a nearby alcove who was stunned at what he was hearing. The eavesdropping had been completely accidental as he had simply been sitting there to think somewhere other than his quarters.

Severus was glad that he had been restless enough to find somewhere else to think. Taking a deep breath he forced himself to think through what he had overheard and reason it through. Harry had already experienced his worst aside from outright combat, much to his shame. By the sound of it the incident with the veritaserum threat hadn't scared the brat at all only tested his emotional mask a bit in a new way. The Dark Lord was going to be approached for permission and to limit how often he was cursed regardless of how it worked out with Harry taking the smart route and _starting_ with attempted friendship. Finally, Harry was willing to back off if this didn't work but still be friends.

Severus honestly couldn't see anything wrong with it from a plan point of view aside from Harry's current legal age and the fact that he was the younger man's teacher. He knew that the abuse Harry had suffered through had mentally aged him quite a bit in various areas. Frankly, the thought of Harry trying to move forwards past the abuse was a promising sign for all that the potential age difference could cause problems.

Severus was still fervently thankful that Harry would have to get outside permission first. He was also thankful that goblin laws regarding young relationships (anyone under the age of 150) only dropped the age of consent by a year compared to the muggle UK laws. It was _far_ better than the old wizarding marriage contract laws that were still in place that could force a child of _12_ into a marriage. He was never more grateful then when he realized that he could break such things as the Head of House on magical grounds of potential harm to his students. It, along with being able to forcibly delay the fulfillment of such contracts, was a part of the magic of Hogwarts that the founders had snuck in that lay _only_ with the Heads of House as a secret.

Severus hoped that Harry held off until he was older but at the physical age of 15 he was already at the age of consent under the goblin laws that superseded the other applicable laws. In fact he was going to insist on it if the issue was brought up outright even if he had to bring it up himself. Nothing beyond friendship would happen until he couldn't be imprisoned for it, regardless of if it be by muggle, wizarding, or goblin law... _especially_ goblin law. They could spend time together as friends but nothing remotely date-like would happen barring magical catastrophe.

It took him until supper time to get his mind back into sorts and himself able to wait and see what his student did about the matter.


	18. Diagon Adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this one is a bit of a monster chapter... Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supper a few days after the overheard conversation was tense in the teacher's dinning room. The same dinning room which owed its existence to the fact that the Great Hall often felt _far_ too big for the staff at times, which was magnified even further for just the three of them. As the etiquette and Black family magic lessons with the former Black sisters were starting to show through in his everyday habits Harry joined Filius in opting to wait out the dour potions master. They wanted to know what was bothering the man _without_ having to dodge hexes.

"I overheard your conversation in the hall a few days ago about relationships," Severus finally explained with a sigh, earning a wince from Harry as the younger man tried not to defensively hunch in preparation for an outright rejection. "I will agree to try friendship as we seem to already be heading in that direction but anything more won't happen until you are legal in all three communities - Wizard, Muggle, and Goblin. I can not speak for the Dark Lord as he is still recovering, as are you, but _I_ will not actively sabotage anything after you turn 16. I appreciate the thought you have obviously put into your discussion this morning. We will see what happens as time moves forwards."

"Thank you for the chance," Harry offered, firmly forcing his courage forwards to put on a brave and faintly relieved face for his crush. He really hoped that neither Narcissa nor Andromeda were told about the potential courtship until _after_ the school shopping trip. He didn't want them knowing if only to avoid the inevitable wardrobe revamp that the two had been threatening as they had already talked about teaching him the proper pureblood rituals for contracted courtships.

"Yes, well, it won't get you out of keeping those twin menaces of yours under control," Severus smirked hiding the softening into an amused smile behind his cup of tea.

Supper continued uneventfully with light talk and a few random tests that Harry managed to pass. Severus never realized that it hadn't even occurred to him to say _no_ or to hide that he _had_ overheard. He also made a point not to ask if either the goblins or the Dark Lord had vetoed the possible relationship.

The calm gentle summer passed until it was time for Harry to get his school supplies.

It was barely seven in the morning when Harry was ambushed and only practice fending off the over enthusiastic Weasley twins gave him even a shot at displaying his displeasure. He had stayed up later than usual the night before going over a book on basic spell crafting that Severus had allowed him to borrow along with one on the basics of runes and a third on the basics of arithmacy.

"Come on Pothead! We have _shopping_ to do!" Draco informed him gleefully as the blond literally dragged him out of bed.

Harry groaned at the over enthusiastic blond and wandlessly turned the prat's hair pink with lavender stripes as he stumbled into the Slytherin common room under Draco's firm guiding hands. The way Harry's foot made its way between Draco's legs to trip him up had absolutely nothing to do with Harry's sleepy displeasure... nothing at all. While Harry felt satisfaction at the surprised yelp from the morning person (one who wouldn't actually hurt him like his relatives would have) he still used a sticking charm on the intruder's hands to keep him from getting up quickly.

"I warned you not to bother him," Severus smirked at his godson and the undignified position he was in. "We only just managed to change his morning responses to something... more appropriate."

"Learning not to wake up expecting to be hit did take a while," Harry agreed with a yawn. Both Ron and Hermione tended to hit when waking him, even if it was only a smack to his covers. Waking up to being hit always tossed him back into a memory of learning not to need naps in any form at the Dursleys along with the bruises that had come with it.

"At least the retaliation reflex is coming along nicely," Lucius noted. He knew who was teaching Harry _that_ since Severus had demonstrated it to him regularly after they became friends. Waking the spy out of a sound sleep could mean your life. Lucius was ever thankful that his friend had been forced into teaching and gained a Head of House position because it had forced the man to relearn a less... lethal reflex spell.

"Harry!" Draco complained from his position on the floor stuck to the hearth rug.

Harry snorted in amusement, more awake now but waved a silent dispel of the magics as he turned to go back into his room and change out of his plain slate blue satin night clothes. He was glad that he could just walk into the main boy side bathroom from his rooms. He didn't tend to use Salazar's private bath that was attached to the other side of the bedroom because as nice as it was it was a bit over the top for his taste. He also hadn't figured out how to use it yet with the set up being done with ancient charms and creating a mixed waterfall/forest pool scene. Beautiful but a little puzzling to work out if it would try to eat him or something else just as bad as the man's portrait had often teased him about the room when he actually asked.

Harry had actively requested being taught to attack before waking up fully as a counter to the flashbacks and instinctive cowering he had been taught by the Dursleys after accidentally waking Severus one day. The hexing he had originally received for waking the man was extremely embarrassing. It would also have stopped him cold had he actually been trying to harm the other man but would not have actually harmed the person waking the man. Harry thought it, or something like it, would be perfect to use against the Weasley twins and it would give him enough chance to bolt against anyone actually trying to kill him in bed.

The result of his wake up training that day was a peaceful shower _without_ an overly pompous blond classmate trying to force him to move faster. Pansy had been kind enough to warn him that Draco was a shopaholic so he wasn't entirely surprised by any of this. Severus would be the one to enforce breakfast as he had very firmly taken control of Harry's healing and potions schedule with his basic medi-wizard training.

Filius had warned them all that he had an early morning meeting at the bank that day to discuss Harry's progress and to inquire when they could get the blasted binds and tracking spells off his son. All of them knew that once they came off Dumbledore was going to throw another fit. They wanted something to hold over the old man's head to keep him in line or at least make him hesitate in going after Harry or someone else.

The bank and clan were still auditing Harry's accounts so Lucius had offered to pay for everything if they went together with Severus. Harry and Filius had easily agreed. Which is how Harry was woken up by a hyperactive blond and then promptly dragged from the castle with an elf made breakfast in hand.

Hours after Harry's rude wake up call and after getting new uniforms and visiting the book store Harry decided to speak up with one of his ideas.

"Um, how upset do you think the staff will be if I use muggle school stuff? Backpacks, paper notebooks, pens, pencils... provided I can talk you guys into going into muggle London and actually letting me buy them?" Harry asked hopefully. They were about half way through purchasing supplies for fifth year and he didn't want have to constantly fight with quills all the time yet again.

"I see no real problem provided you turn assignments in on ink and parchment and practice writing with a quill nightly until your writing isn't so atrocious. Its actually a primary reason I mark your assignments so low. I can't hardly read the chicken scratch you turn in," Severus told him flatly with a fake scowl to fool the crowd of gawkers. "A leather satchel, if properly charmed, would help you a great deal both in and out of class."

"We will need to start him on calligraphy lessons then," Lucius sighed. "He doesn't know even basics that the muggleborns are taught. Quite obviously someone badly wants him for a sacrifice or a puppet."

"We don't know what the new DADA professor is going to be like so I would buy normal stuff for that class and ask first," Draco pointed out. "Most people not at school and probably half the school still think you are Dumbledore's golden boy and the minister has been calling him crazy all summer. I know Uncle Sev hasn't started you on reading the Prophet yet to look for codes and stuff but I wasn't sure if you read it at all."

"Yeah, some times I'll look at it and my Slytherin side tells me both that I need to point out that I'm not his and hide my not being the golden boy by passing everything off as a tantrum or something. I'm not sure what to do, especially after most of Skeeter's articles last year," Harry grimaced as he hurried to keep up. The group was heading after potions ingredients next and Harry planned to shamelessly get Severus to help him pick out the best ones for any brewing they did that year.

"That woman is a menace," Lucius agreed wholeheartedly. "Thankfully she hasn't been seen since shortly before the third task."

"Oh... uh, I think 'Mione sort of kidnapped her or at least that's what she told me she did before showing me a bug and saying that Skeeter was an unregistered animagus and was the bug in the jar... She was trying to be my friend again so I don't know if it was just a bug or actually Skeeter. I didn't think to tell you, sorry," Harry apologized sheepishly.

"Your luck strikes again," Draco sighed as they all looked at him after entering the apothecary for that year's ingredients.

"Indeed it does," Voldemort said calmly from right behind Harry, making him jump in shock. Only Severus' quick reflexes kept him from crashing into an ingredient laden shelf and starting a disastrous cascade that would have turned the shop into an oversized potion bomb created crater.

"Don't do that!" Harry scolded, turning to face the smirking man properly.

Voldemort looked much better than the last time Harry had run into him in the graveyard. His eyes were still blood red but he actually had meat on his bones, making him look like a slightly older version of the Diary. He was wearing a mix of muggle and wizarding attire, black slacks, dark dragon hide boots, a white button up shirt and a black over robe with acid green flickering flames embroidered along the bottom three inches. His hair, unlike the Diary, was pulled back in a cue or pony tail similar to what Lucius sometimes wore.

They had been corresponding erratically over the summer and had gotten to know a few things about each other. Harry now knew why the man hated his birth name but had been given permission to use it since the results of the goblin test made him belong to the older wizard as a holder of his soul. Voldemort, on the other hand, now knew for certain that Harry had been abused and that Dumbledore was aware of his Horcruxes. He had started reabsorbing the ones he could get his hands on as soon as he was strong enough for the ritual.

"Shall I see to it that Miss. Granger is checked? Or that the vile woman doesn't reappear?" Lucius asked quietly.

"As much as I hate to say it... Rita was just doing her job. I think we should rescue her, if it is her, and get her to work for us. She's really good at making people look bad or good in certain ways. I think they called it character assassination. You might want to get Hermione's house checked too since she has bragged about being allowed to do magic during the summer without getting in trouble," Harry admitted sheepishly. His trust had been extended to these people with less sensitive information, from his point of view, earlier in the summer repeatedly and they had passed those tests of trust so he didn't feel as worried over sharing any of this.

"My Lord we don't know who the new Defense Professor is. We _are_ pretty sure Dumbledore is going to try and force Harry back into his Golden Gryff persona and thus back under his control," Draco reminded them all.

"I'll have Barty look into it. Incidentally, I've blood adopted him which changed his features but you remain my heir. He is now a strange mix of being both _our_ son and _your_ brother. Don't ask me to spell out how the bloodline family tree and inheritance lines will work if neither of us have children. It gave me a splitting migraine to simply figure out his current position with our.. unique situation," Voldemort warned with a grimace of phantom memory pain.

"Okay? Um, Professor Flitwick blood adopted me?" Harry offered hesitantly in return.

"On second thought Lucius have the Ministry look into Granger. Severus see if you can find out about the new Professor and if we can possibly slip someone into the position," Voldemort said thoughtfully. "See if you can assign your seats to Lucius and tell him how you want them voted. It will keep Dumbledore from trying to use them this year and using him as a proxy will help you learn about that aspect of your Lordships. Draco will be able to help you as well and he can pass on things if the situation at Hogwarts becomes... problematic."

"Okay," Harry agreed a little too easily. "He is also in easy reach, sort of, to prank if he doesn't vote my seats right... or explain it right."

That thought made the elder blond pale slightly but he inclined his head in understanding and acceptance of the threat/promise. Even if Harry hadn't had access to him through Draco or as a school governor he would have access through _his wife_. Harry could also use his access through Severus and the Dark Lord but neither of them were likely to use pranks as revenge on someone else's behalf.

"Additionally _Wormtail_ 's memory explained your... rough arrival for the ritual. He has been punished," Voldemort informed them as his mind returned briefly to the memory he had snatched from the rat's head.

> _  
>  **Flashback** _
> 
> _Wormtail watched as the brat landed. He didn't want to have to fight with the young idiot so he tossed a stunner at the brat before being noticed. A quick levitation spell, held carefully stable before dragging the brat to his master._
> 
> _"Wormtail? Is that you?" Voldemort called weakly from his spot in the floating chair near the fire._
> 
> _"Yes my lord. I have the brat you asked for," Wormtail sniveled, floating his burden into the room to drop on the floor in front of his master._
> 
> _"Why is he unconscious? Be careful with him you fool!" Voldemort demanded._
> 
> _"He passed out when the portkey landed my lord," Wormtail told him._
> 
> _"...Very well. Proceed with the modified ritual instructions," Voldemort ordered. It wasn't like either of them had thought Harry would get through the maze without exhausting himself or relatively intact. That was the whole point originally, to keep him from fighting too much when they used him for the first ritual._
> 
> _Wormtail quickly obeyed, taking some of Harry's hair as a part of the ritual before mixing it into a paste with other ingredients. A paste that was smeared over the deformed baby body on the forehead, over the heart, and over the gut before the extra was ritually burned using coals from a burnt down green ash log. Over the next half hour Voldemort grew becoming more and more like his Diary self in form until he only looked like a badly starved, bald adult version of his younger self._
> 
> _"Come here Wormtail," Voldemort rasped the order. Wormtail obeyed and soon Severus was apparating to their location. "Severus, check Potter."_
> 
> _"Yes my lord... he appears to have been stunned aside from his tiring battle through the maze," Severus informed him after a quick check._
> 
> _"You may curse Wormtail for lying and stunning Potter," Voldemort informed him darkly and Severus gleefully complied. By the time Harry woke the Dark Lord was looking more like a chemo patient than a victim of extended starvation and they were arguing about Harry returning to the school._
> 
> _**End Flashback**   
>  _   
> 

  
"Stupid rat," Harry muttered darkly, bringing the Dark Lord back to the current conversation.

"Quite," Voldemort agreed with an equally dark chuckle. "I was actually here to get some ingredients of my own. Meeting you was a pure coincidence though I can't say I am displeased with the out come."

The newly expanded group set about gathering their ingredients before paying and moving elsewhere to talk.

"Er, will you try to kill me for promising to show some people... mostly Slytherins the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked Voldemort cautiously. They were just sitting down at a magical cafe for lunch. The question set Draco to choking on a mix of laughter and fear as he had thought Harry had asked _before_ taking anyone down.

"That depends on if you can get the Basilisk not to try and eat them," Voldemort said calmly.

"Oh, er, I kind of had to kill it in second year?" Harry admitted sheepishly.

"You slew a basilisk that is more than 60 feet long and more than a thousand years old when you were _12?_ " Voldemort demanded with a growl of upset. "Why were you even allowed near her?!"

"Um, funny story?" Harry laughed nervously.

"I am helping your twins find that blasted memory viewing spell," Severus muttered darkly. "Maybe if I review your previous bouts of insanity I will have a better chance at keeping you from the _next_ one or at least alive through it!"

"Tell me when you've found it. I get the feeling that I need to be there for it even if I have to break into Hogwarts to attend the viewing," Voldemort said with a pointed look at a nervous Harry.

"Your luck strikes again," Draco smirked.

"Shove it you prat," Harry shot back. His tone was a mix of resignation and half hearted protest rather than actual anger, something which the older wizards noticed with hidden approval.

"Your mid-day potion Mr. Potter," Severus said, handing over the healing potion as a distraction from the by now friendly bickering. Draco had made regular visits with his father to the school over the summer and the two young men had gotten close enough that they weren't anything close to enemies any more.

Harry shrugged and swallowed the potion with barely a shudder at the foul taste. His health had been bad enough that removing him from all flying had been discussed and his father had set him to learning the history of the weapons he would be learning to use for the first week of his training and of summer. The argument had been that he had to have healthy bones before they started on physical movement. This lead to Harry insisting on the stronger healing plan even if it trapped him in the hospital wing for three weeks straight. He had been firmly over ruled on that point but got the six most basic Kata per weapon taught to him, most of which were blocks, by mid-July.

The screams and the sudden drop in temperature were the only warning the group had as the Dementors dropped out of the sky, heading straight for _Harry_.

" _Expecto Patronum!_ " was snarled out by all but a pale Draco in the group and everyone in Diagon Alley got a a look at four fully formed Patroni attacking the Dementors right back. The wraiths faced a fierce Doe, a radiant Stag, some sort of Cobra, and a Basilisk before being driven off. The cafe owner quickly recovered once the Dementors were gone and everyone was just as quickly served chocolate with a quiet word of thanks to Harry's group and no need to pay. Ten minutes later the expulsion notice appeared, announcing Harry's summary expulsion and angering the entirety of the Alley.

"I will handle it," Lucius said very firmly. "This was clearly a matter of self defense and you were with multiple graduated wizards, not to mention you were granted the free use of magic by the tournament. Either someone has been shoddy in updating the paperwork or this was attempted murder."

"Let us treat this as attempted murder as the expulsion is obviously a farce. Summon the Aurors!," Voldemort called out loudly enough for the people around them to hear. There was a murmur of angry approval which quickly got a pair of Aurors to the scene and statements taken. A few of them tried to arrest either Snape or Harry on grounds that were obviously bogus but the upset crowd kept the particular idiot Aurors from actually laying hands on them.

"I do _not_ appreciate this Lucius," Voldemort informed the blond quietly after the red clad ministry employees left. His red eyes burning in anger and frustration at the current situation.

"It will be handled and the goblins informed as his primary guardian," Lucius answered just as quietly back.

"At least they didn't get close enough for me to hear mum die again," Harry pointed out just a bit too loudly even as his group turned to him in shock.

"That's what happens?! You see your parents die when you space out around the Dementors?! No wonder you had so much trouble in third year. You were being tortured with them so close to the school," Draco exclaimed in outraged shock.

"Yes Draco, that was why Professor Lupin was teaching me the Patronus charm," Harry said with a pointed eye roll. He flatly ignored the crowds in the Alley avidly listening in. Today had just taken too much out of him to care all that much about anything with how close the blasted Dementors had gotten.

"I don't think you actually can be expelled. You own a portion of the school. To expel you would require us to shut down Hogwarts at this point," Voldemort said loudly. His small smirk told Harry that the man was scheming and the immediate outrage from the crowd was a less than subtle response.

Harry just knew the shit storm wasn't avoidable at this point and rolled his eyes at the vindictive man. With his luck some article vilifying him for defending himself and risking the school being shut down because of it would show up in the paper as a special edition.

"Man that live in interesting times curse on you must be wicked strong!" Draco said loudly. Harry just took to banging his head lightly on the table and ignoring the sudden intense scrutiny of the crowd.

"Draco," Severus warned with a glower.

"What? Its true! Just because Dumbledore keeps covering it up doesn't make it _my_ fault," Draco pointed out innocently.

"Prat!" was Harry's muffled rebuttal to that. He could reluctantly admit that spilling that particular curse to the public could be a good idea to keep the staring down after this incident but it also would get people paying close attention to anything that happened around him. It was a toss up whether admitting to the damn curse or trying to forget that it existed.

"Cheer up! Father will sort out the ministry and if he doesn't you can just ban everyone from the castle while you practice enough to pass your NEWTs or move in with the goblins and get them to teach you," Draco pointed out in an odd mix of cheeriness and wicked mirth.

"We will wait here while your Father does that to avoid further false accusations," Severus informed the two bickering wizards with a drawl of amusement. Lucius quickly agreed and hurried off towards the ministry. He would have the expulsion revoked within the hour and start the investigation into who the bloody hell set _Dementors_ loose on Diagon, targeting important _heirs_ no less.

"We might want to consider having him take at least one OWL early just in case," Voldemort said thoughtfully.

"That would likely be his Defense OWL then," Severus said with a sigh.

"That won't be necessary," Filius said, joining them with a wicked smirk of his own. "The Ministry will be receiving the official warning of closing the bank for two weeks time for threatening a ward of the clan by the end of the day if I understand the situation correctly. They will have a week to fix the situation."

"The stupid Dementors just showed up out of nowhere and I got the expulsion letter less then ten minutes later! I can't afford to let them get as close as everyone else can or they'll try to eat me again!" Harry protested, popping his head back up until he was sitting properly once more.

"Ah yes, their attempt to devour your soul after I rescued you and got knocked unconscious for my pains at the end of your third year," Severus reminisced lightly, his eyes glittering in dangerous memory. "And if you even _attempt_ to say you aren't worth protecting or worth the trouble this is causing, as your former guardians taught you, you will be writing lines until your fingers start to blister! It is not your fault these things are happening and it most certainly isn't your fault that whoever it is failed to get what they wanted."

"They obviously didn't do their research if they didn't realize this would happen in the first place if they came after you. While you did defeat the Dark Lord as an infant it has been confirmed that you actually helped _both_ sides because of the _other_ magics that triggered. Anyone trying to kill you has to face both the Light and the Dark... That is unless the Light decides to turn on you because you've stopped being the obedient little puppet people were trying to make you into so they could use you to control the rest of the Wizarding World. It would only take you being ordered to invoke everyone's life debts that you earned the night your parents died and a simple order to do it," Voldemort drawled, his eyes glittering in malice at how easily it could work.

"Not doing it," Harry shot back shortly, knowing exactly what the ruby-eyed man was thinking. "No one has taught me about life debts either yet."

"We are covering them as soon as we get back as your lunch companion pointed out something everyone has over looked. Severus, I am afraid that I have to ask you to teach Harry Occlumency as soon as possible on the same grounds. I will fetch the strongest protective jewelry from the bank possible and ensure that he has it tonight," Filius said firmly.

"I've been playing bodyguard all summer in any case," Severus gave a resigned sigh that was more for the still listening crowd than anything else.

"Dumbledore is going to hate this! He's been trying to get you to follow him blindly since you first came to Hogwarts!" Draco cackled evilly. "This will make sure no one controls you!"

"Draco? _Shut up!_ " Harry said sweetly, obviously grumpy about the situation. He could understand perfectly well why they were announcing it like this but he didn't have to like it or the target it was painting neon orange on his back versus the regular red and white one.

Reassured the crowd started to disperse so that only the most die hard gossips remained to listen in. Talk in the group quickly turned to summer activities and latest study projects until Lucius returned with news.

"It was indeed a misfiling of your status Heir Potter and the Dementors were rogues. The issue has been firmly corrected and your status updated both in regards to your magic use status and your goblin ward status. The school ownership status is still being double checked by Unspeakables along with the original usage agreement. Also appropriate notices were sent to the bank regarding the incident," Lucius informed them all happily as he returned several hours after leaving them.

"Off the record?" Voldemort asked casually.

"Off the record no one has any idea what happened with the Dementors and someone tricked Fudge into signing a hold on his status updates," Lucius admitted. "He has been legal since his name came from the goblet but his status has been frozen since Black escaped Azkaban. Something which has now been corrected."

They wrapped up the last of their shopping and ended the day very quickly after that.


	19. Pink Debut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one fought a bit but I got it done!  
> Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The goblins along with Flitwick, upon hearing about the Dementors, were absolutely _pissed_. This resulted in an impromptu closing of the bank for "audits" for three full days and Harry receiving not only a second wand but two wand holsters. Each holster had two slots but he was asked to keep his wands separate to limit an enemy from completely disarming him. His everyday one went on his right forearm while the secondary one went on his right calf. Both had anti-summoning charms protecting the wands along with water/fire proofing spells and were spelled to only be removable by someone keyed in via blood or a goblin healer.

Harry also received a hold out dagger made of magic conducting goblin silver that would change forms. This was kept in miniature as a sapphire blue tear drop pendant on his protective necklace. The links of the necklace were each spelled with something different, like the holsters it was spelled to only be removable by someone keyed in via blood or a goblin healer. It was also spelled unbreakable. Along with being unable to be lifted unless it was by the wearer or coming completely off to keep someone from choking him with it there were an ungodly amount of anti-poison, anti-potion, and mind protection magics on it. Severus was the one to insist on the invisibility charms for both holsters and necklace.

The first day of school Harry found out why he had been left alone by Dumbledore during the holiday... The Ministry was very obviously playing power games with the old coot and dragging the students into the middle of the mess. Harry did not like the pink clad one. He did not like her at _all_. The only good thing about her presence was that he wasn't forced to sit with the Lions at the opening feast.

Harry would later discover that the first defense lesson with the pink one representing idiots in power would turn out to be even worse.

"As you have no house to loose points from Mr. Potter you will have a detention with me every single time instead," Umbridge said nastily. Harry had a sinking feeling about this and mentally vowed to be extra careful around the witch.

"Professor there is a rule that Dumbledore put in place this year that Potter is only allowed to have detention with a Head of House because apparently previous teachers have attacked him here at the school. Sometimes they were sloppy and nearly got other students killed while they were trying to kill Potter. His guardian is also on staff and Professor Snape explained that its traditional for students with guardians on staff to be punished by their guardian," Draco offered up quickly. It may not be true but it was something Slytherin house had agreed should be put into place and they would fight to get it or something similar in place. The fact that it would keep Potter safe but still avoid him being openly favored and appear to be Dumbledore's puppet again was a bonus in their minds.

"You just want him put with Snape so he can turn Harry into potions ingredients!" Ron protested, still trying to get back on Harry's good side.

"I've been whipped before Weasley, in case you've forgotten that news article Dumbledore wanted me to lie about," Harry drawled sarcastically, causing the redhead to flush a brilliant scarlet in anger. "I think the old man just realized that I don't listen to his patsys anymore and only Snape and Flitwick have proven able to out stubborn me. Which is a good thing since one teaches potions and the other is my guardian. I listen to Professor Sprout because she's nice and is wicked cool when it comes to dangerous plants. McGonagall... lost my respect over time but she has been my Head of House for the last four years. My issues with McGonagall aside, which don't come into play when I'm getting punished any way, I actually _listen_ to the Heads of House even if I get a bit cheeky about it. I really don't trust most of the staff, especially Dumbledore at this point and I'm pretty well tempted to tell you all to bugger off if any Dark Lord shows up."

"Tut tut tut, that is quite enough children. As I was saying since you have no house you will sit away from the properly sorted students and be eating at a new table, just, for, _you_ in the Great Hall to keep you out of trouble," Umbridge ordered him. Her tone was so sickly sweet that half the class fought not to gag. "Perhaps it will keep you from spreading lies such as the Dark Lord's return."

"What lies?" Harry asked in outright confusion. "Professor I don't know what you are talking about."

"Ah, Harry? I think I know what she means. Dumbledore has been telling the press that you told him the Dark Lord is back," Draco informed him cautiously. He was pretty sure his friend would blow up over it and didn't want to be in the line of fire.

"What?!" Harry squawked in obvious outrage. "I never told him that! I told him about killing that weird possessed Diary and the Basilisk in second year but that is the closest I've ever said anything like that! I was too busy all summer trying to heal and get my Heir lessons done to talk to anyone except you! That was mostly because you came with your dad when he would consult with Professor Snape and check up on me."

Harry absolutely _hated_ finding out that Dumbledore was still trying to use him as a mouth piece. This was especially true since he clearly didn't care about _Harry_ only what Harry's _status_ could do for him. He had just been given enough reason to team up with the twins and cause the man _problems_. Now this shit with the pinkette? _Hell no!_

"50 galleons to the person who pulls the best prank or pranks on Dumbledore," Harry announced flatly, his eyes flaring in quickly controlled fury. "Getting expelled or sent to Azkaban automatically disqualifies you."

"Oh shit!" Ron cursed, knowing his older brothers would pick up the challenge in a heartbeat.

"A week of detention Potter!" Umbridge ordered smugly. "For conspiracy against the staff and a second week for _lying_."

Harry bit back the " _delusional witch_ " that lingered on the tip of his tongue, not wanting more unwarranted detentions assigned to him than he already had. He was already grateful that Draco had come up with a solution.

"I will report to one of the Heads of House about the detentions after class Professor," Harry said, forcing himself to sound meek and cowed rather than spitting in fury. Umbridge looked displeased at this but didn't object, returning to the lesson.

After class Draco snagged him and dragged him to Severus before they quickly explained what had happened.

"From the sound of it I will have to be even more nasty simply so the _I_ can take your detentions rather than allowing that _witch_ to have you. Keep protesting that you haven't sided with Dumbledore and stick to the truth as much as possible this year. There is a limit to how much you should have to put up with as a student. I will warn the rest of the staff and explain it to Dumbledore in a way that he can't object. The potential threat to the other students was a good choice, Draco," Severus congratulated. Draco preened under the praise, forcing Harry to bite back laughter at how ridiculous he looked.

"I had best drop the glamour on my school robes then... I was really hoping to avoid getting targeted again," Harry muttered, dropping the glamour only to get stared at by Draco and examined critically by Snape.

"You were accepted as a member of all houses. It stands to reason that the school would change the colors of your uniform to reflect that," Severus offered in consolation.

Harry grumbled but accepted the comfort even as he readjusted his uniform. It hadn't changed much since the last time the school altered it. Instead of the Gryffindor patch he now wore the school patch in its place but he still had the snake patch circling it. The colors of his tie had changed to Yellow, Red, Green, and Blue while a braid of the same colors lined his robes, showing in place in all four houses. He might stick mostly with the Slytherins but that had more to do with avoiding Dumbledore's hero worship and the promise of safety within Slytherin house than anything else.

They walked to lunch together after that, complete with Draco dragging Harry over to sit with him and acting all protective, clearly weirding out Harry in the process.

"Headmaster why exactly are you limiting Mr. Potter's punishments to only the Heads of House? Is that not favoritism?" Umbridge asked in a sickly sweet manner that made the staff sick half way through lunch. She had purposefully mis-stated it in an attempt to trip him up.

"I am afraid I have no idea what you are talking about Delores," Dumbledore said gently, hiding his confusion.

"I apologize Headmaster. My godson misheard me when I was complaining about how you favor Potter and my plan to request his punishments be restricted to the Heads of House. This is due in part to how often he has proven himself to get in trouble, dragging others with him in the process and the fact that of late he spends more time with my snakes. The times that some of the lions have foolishly followed him and gotten hurt in the process are perfect examples." Severus explained silkily. "I, however, believe that Professor Umbridge's orders to him that he is not allowed to talk to or interact with any other student in the school due to his apparent house-less status go too far. Indeed it would simply encourage him to get into further trouble and encourage him into looking at the Dark Arts for comfort as others of power tend towards in isolation in an attempt to ease the unending loneliness that results. I felt no need to encourage him to become a _Dark Lord_."

"I, at least, approved of Severus' plan as Harry's guardian and father. If he gets to out of hand I will exert my authority as his guardian and handle all of his punishments myself. Of course he still must take his potions to continue repairing the damage from the abuse and attend his Heir lessons and family lessons. We can't have him falling even farther behind with what Albus refused to teach him," Filius said firmly, a glint of battle in his eye.

"I must have missed the note but while I agree in principle I must withdraw myself from those who can punish him. I am afraid that it was recently pointed out to me that I have been treating him as his father and have, as a result, been providing incorrect punishments whenever Albus didn't just dismiss them or change them. I believe that the other three of you have been the only ones who have punished him appropriately _and_ successfully ignored when Albus tried to reward him for putting himself and others at risk. Well you three and Poppy," Minerva pointed out with wry humor.

"I haven't needed to do more than take points so I can't answer about over turned punishments. I have, however, noticed Albus' apparent need to reward Mr. Potter for nearly getting himself killed each year as well as his perchance to downplay the risks. As Mr. Potter is now a joint member of all our houses I feel that I cannot let that continue," Pamona Sprout said firmly.

"I will inform you when the Weasley twins have found the spells necessary for us to view Potter's memories of the incidents as they have extracted a promise to let him view them along with my entire house," Severus told her dryly. "He laid down certain restrictions on who could watch otherwise. I believe that the Heads of House all qualify though I cannot promise that the rest of the staff do, especially with how angry he has been with the Headmaster of late."

"What do you mean Potter offered 50 galleons for the best pranks on Dumbledore?!" echoed the shocked shout from the Gryffindor table with near perfect timing, causing the pranking target to pale even as the shouter was hushed.

"I will have to check with Draco but I believe that was a perfect example of exactly how upset he is with you," Severus smirked, complete with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't blame him with how you tried to force him back to those abusive muggles at the end of last year," Madam Pince muttered evilly, just loud enough for the entire teachers table to hear.

"It is just a simple misunderstanding. He must stay with his relatives for the greater good. I will have to make certain he spends Christmas with them since he wasn't within the blood wards for the summer," Dumbledore said firmly, unwilling to take no for an answer.

"Insane power hungry old coot" Passed through the minds of Severus and Filius simultaneously.

"In any case Mr. Potter dutifully reported the two weeks of detention you assigned him for honestly informing you that he had no knowledge of what you accused him of. I dismissed them as inappropriate but gave him three days of detention with me for cheek and rudeness with the understanding that I would inform Filius as his guardian and request more difficult lessons for him. I do believe he is currently dreading his family dueling lessons for the next several weeks," Severus smirked evilly.

"Now Severus that is hardly appropriate," Dumbledore chided, doing exactly what the Potions Master expected of him. "That is far to harsh for a student simply speaking his mind. I believe that taking points are more appropriate in this case. 10 points from Gryffindor for cheek and no detentions."

Severus put on a show of growling and grumbling, snarling into his food and exchanged a hidden satisfied smirk with Filius who caught on almost immediately. Sometimes the part goblin was glad to have been the younger man's teacher and to have occasionally helped him get back at the Marauders for their over the top pranks.

"Tell me when you want to start watching that _woman_. Harry is my family Lord and she is obviously out to get him," Minerva murmured to Severus. They had both known that was one of the reasons she had withdrawn from being able to give him punishments.

"You heard the prank bounty on Dumbledore. I am willing to bet she earns one herself before too long," Severus quietly smirked back, silently dipping his head in acknowledgement of her offer. Lunch passed in normal order after that.


	20. Bounty Poster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I went and made you all a bounty poster... Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bounty Poster:

> _  
> **Bounty** **:** 50 Galleons_
> 
> _**Target :** Headmaster Dumbledore_
> 
> _**Picture** **:** (an enlarged chocolate frog card of the man was placed in this section)_
> 
> _**Task** **:** Best Prank or series of Pranks_
> 
> _**General Restrictions** **:** Nothing that will risk expulsion, Azkaban, or true harm to target or bystanders._
> 
> _**Conditional Restrictions** **:** No attempt to use Snape is to occur on pain of 150 points lost and three weeks of detention unless granted special permission by Snape. All potions used must be cleared with Snape, Madam Pomfrey, and/or the Weasley twins on pain of becoming the official Weasley prank tester for a week._
> 
> _**Special Restrictions** **:** Anyone who wishes to participate must hold an overall Acceptable grade average and sign the Snape controlled sign up sheet by order of Professor Snape. Failure to do so will result in excessive point loss and automatically disqualify the prankster from the bounty._
> 
> _**Reward Conditions** **:** Succeed in performing and/or arranging the best prank on Headmaster Dumbledore during the year._
> 
> _**Special Conditions** **:** Any discovery of activity or materials harmful or potentially harmful to staff or students is to be immediately reported to a Head of House to ensure it will do no harm to anyone in the school. Refusal to report the harmful object or activity results in automatic disqualification and between one detention and two months worth - attempts prevented by outside forces are not penalized. Revealing this official bounty poster or any future bounty posters to any staff member is grounds for permanent disqualification from all bounties - the Heads of House, Medi-witch, and Librarian are exempt from this for safety and assistance reasons._
> 
> _**Bonus Reward** **:** 3 targeted pranks performed by the Weasley twins, can be won up to 3 times randomly during the year - use of one of these must be cleared with special authority known to the twins to count as a bounty eligible prank._
> 
> _**Bonus Conditions** **:** Perform a school wide prank that makes everyone smile but does not humiliate or harm anyone - group wins are eligible  
>  _  
> 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to use this format (and the implied prank bounty idea) you have my permission. *evil cackle*


	21. Library Council

The official rules of the prank bounty went up on every common room notice board before curfew. There were a few refinements that Severus had pulled Harry aside specifically to discuss because even if Dumbledore encouraged the bullying of the students that he couldn't use most of the staff actually cared. In reality Harry understood because Luna was a regular victim of this and so, in a fashion, was he in both worlds and especially whenever he had lost "public favor" in the Wizarding World. There was also the fact that if the "bounties" didn't have certain restrictions the staff would not only be over run in no time but some of the pranksters could find themselves in Azkaban. The potions restriction was to avoid medical emergencies while the Snape restrictions were to avoid a wrathful Potions Master on a rampage and Marauder flashbacks.

The first half of the semester mostly passed in peace aside from the prank attempts against Dumbledore that mostly failed as Harry got more and more sour over what they weren't being taught in Defense. Umbridge continually tried to get him for detentions but Harry displayed his mostly hidden Slytherin cunning by tricking Ron or Hermione into going to Dumbledore over the detentions. He even dutifully reported to a Head of House for each set of detentions and the stated reasons why he was given one or more. Things came to a head when the Weasley twins brought a terrified second year Ravenclaw over to Harry while studying in the library.

"My lord we have a bit of a problem," George said softly, grimness pinching his eyes from their normally cheerful demeanor.

"We were spelled to keep the information silent but the _bitch_ missed one of her victims," Fred explained, equally grim, even as he rubbed unconsciously at his hand.

"We can't take it to a staff member because she hit the little Raven with something stopping it," George informed him.

"The _bitch_ is..." Fred tried to spit the words only for the magic to start choking him. Once he stopped trying to say anything he could breath again.

Harry nodded grimly in understanding and turned to the terrified second year who also happened to keep rubbing at her hand.

"Little raven will you try to tell me? I am of all houses and Professor Flitwick is my guardian. I promise that I will get help for you and anyone else that is getting hurt. Haven't I protected the school every year? Now what is the problem?" Harry asked gently. In no time at all he had a sobbing second year in his arms pouring out how Umbridge was hurting students during detention.

"Get Snape and Flitwick, put them under my special cloak," Harry ordered harshly, his eyes cold as ice even as he cradled the sobbing raven gently in his arms.

The twins were off like shot, caring almost nothing for those they barreled past as each twin went for a teacher. They had the teachers there within 30 minutes just as the little raven was trying to fall alseep from crying. The twins' return and their nods told him that the two teachers were in position to hear what was said.

"Hey little one, can you tell me again? Looking only at me? I want to make sure I understood it all," Harry asked gently as he carefully woke the second year.

"Pr'fessor Umb'idge gave me detention f'r askin 'bout Pr'fessor Lupin. She gave me a quill and it hurt to use it. It kept cutting the w'rds into my hand when I wrote. She made me write _Werewolves are animals fit only for skinning_ until she got a letter. She then sent me away after casting a spell she said no one important would be able to hear me if I tried to tell. She said she had p'rmission from s'meone named F'dge," the second year explained, having trouble speaking some words in her exhaustion. Her last words appeared to take the last of her strength as she fell asleep.

Harry's eyes blazed in fury as they met the equally furious eyes of the Professors as they left their hidden listening positions.

"If that woman does have official permission to torture our students then there is little we can do legally. Using a _blood quill_ of all things like _this?_ ," Severus explained in absolute disgust at the pink abominations as he gently lifted the little Raven from Harry's arms. "I will contact the Dark Lord on the matter but I am uncertain how we can deal with this. Aside from simply murdering her, which will not stop someone else from being sent and may even make the situation worse, I am uncertain what to do."

"She has been trying _real_ hard to get me for a detention. Perhaps I should allow it, especially if it will reduce how often she does this to anyone else. We all know that she has decided I'm a primary target for her and she's been taking her frustrations out on others since she can't have me. Those _educational decrees_ and the _teacher inspections_ are a prime example of her attempts to conquer Hogwarts for her personal fiefdom in the name of the Ministry. Legally, I am a goblin so if she draws blood on me I have the right to fight back," Harry practically snarled, eyes blazing. "I admit that stricter requirements for some of teachers might help. Binns, Trelawny, and the other Defense Professors being prime examples but the rest of it is _way_ out of line!"

"We think she doesn't recognize that you are accepted as basically a goblin," Fred said quietly. "She thinks she has actual authority over everyone in the school."

"But then she has been bothering Professor Flitwick and saying stuff about how anyone with non-human blood should be culled and treated as an animal," George pointed out with a snarl of his own.

"The Dark Lord can arrange for a replacement Professor if need be since the Dark has been trying to get someone competent into the position for decades," Severus informed them, carefully cradling the small Raven in his arms as she slept. "That quill is only legal to use for signing blood contracts and is normally heavily regulated. If she has a writ for authorized use then things are far worse than we had thought."

"We also _can't_ report it officially with the spells she's using on us," Fred pointed out.

"We got lucky that the little Raven only got half the normal spells put on her so we could bring her to Harry," George agreed grimly.

"I think its time to get these stupid spells _off_ me and explain that the students are _not_ to be touched until after graduation by _anyone_ ," Harry informed them coldly.

Severus smiled just as coldly and handed Harry a potion that he had been regularly brewing and carrying around since he had heard about the binds and trackers. Filius, obviously agreeing, cast protective spells on the shelves and books surrounding them before sending a series of unbinding spells and cancellation spells at his son even as Harry downed the potion in one swallow. A flash of light and power started the magical whirlpool of wind that swirled strongly around Harry for several seconds before settling into a cloak of power covering Harry from foot to crown. Harry in turn concentrated for a moment and instinctively slipped the released power under his skin so that he wasn't literally glowing any longer.

"The binds not only restrained your power but the leech we discovered later kept it from ever fully refilling while continuously siphoning a portion off elsewhere. It will take time to regenerate all of the power that you are supposed to have. We didn't inform you of the siphon as the Dark Lord only discovered it a week ago. The fact that the Horcrux naturally takes some of your magic hid it from the goblin test along with the fact that it was placed directly over your scar, likely in an effort to hide it. You still have more than Dumbledore at the moment so you will have to be careful with your casting until you have fully adjusted," Severus informed him with wicked glee.

"I will keep that in mind. I'm not finished healing yet so I can just send the extra magic towards that for now," Harry agreed even as he arched like a waking cat.

"Just to check... what are we doing about the _bitch_?" Fred asked softly. He and his twin could feel the increase in power rushing down the bonds they had with Harry with extreme satisfaction.

"We keep as many students from her detentions as possible and arrange to compensate for her poor teaching, if one can even call it teaching. Perhaps get a reporter in and hidden to observe the detentions? I don't want Harry subjected to her viciousness but I can't argue that her actions being used on him would be more effective," Severus said thoughtfully, taking a moment to readjust the sleeping second year in his arms.

"We warn my brethren about this opportunity and see if there are other objections. They were quite serious about going to war over my son," Filius pointed out. "We need her gone for the protection of the students if nothing else but I am not certain we want to start another Wizard-Goblin war."

"Ron and Hermione have demanded that I come with them for the Halloween Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow, something about me teaching defense," Harry told them. "They even had a note from Dumbledore trying to enforce it."

"They _still_ aren't taking no for an answer?" George asked with a derisive snort.

"They are getting bad enough that I'm thinking of placing a bounty on _them_ even if it will bring back some of Severus' bad memories. They've started trying to use manipulation techniques they don't understand and attempting to sabotage my school work to try and keep me isolated. Its not really working mostly because I live with the Slytherins and they are clumsy about it but I've heard Ron muttering about me being evil again..." Harry admitted. He refused to explain that his former redheaded friend had also been caught muttering about him needing to die and blaming him for the deaths in the last war, _including_ that of his own parents. He was good at hiding things so no one knew that it felt like a knife to the heart every time he heard something like that and it didn't help that he thought that himself from time to time.

"Will placing a bounty on the pink one make things worse?" Fred asked flatly.

"Possibly," Severus agreed, once more readjusting the young Ravenclaw in his arms.

"Let me talk to my brethren before anyone does anything drastic. We can put the legal department on it and see what we can do," Filius said firmly. "The rest of the staff will be informed and we will try to keep everyone away from her. You three can have people come to Harry about help and he can bring them to me or Severus. We will just have to work around the extra magics being used. Harry's position can be used to get around it especially since he holds so many different positions. This means, as an example, that if she bans the students from going to their housemates the student can go to Harry in his capacity as being in another house. If they are banned from speaking to the staff then they can go to Harry as a fellow student. If they are banned from discussing it at all they can approach in silence and hold out their injured hand. You get the idea."

"We will spread the word," the twins promised simultaneously before the impromptu group dispersed, going about their business.


	22. Pink Raid

Soon after the library meeting they discovered that certain gifts from the Malfoys were more than proving their worth. The mokeskin pouch and wards on Harry's replacement trunk that Draco had insisted on when he had been dragged to Gringotts had been a _very_ good idea. Upon seeing the mess Harry mentally sighed and wondered if he should have let Lucius pay for the more expensive wards that he had tried talking Harry into in the first place.

Harry had walked into the Slytherin common room quietly discussing the latest charms lesson with Draco only to come to an abrupt halt at the sight of his things thrown around the room and half destroyed in the process. Amid the wreckage stood an apologetic Filch, a superior Umbridge, and a triumphant Ron. One look at Ron told Harry who's idea this was and gave him a target for his next personal prank project with the twins. Thankfully his actual school stuff, homework and course books, were off to one side. They were very obviously riffled through but basically left alone.

"I do hope you have a good explanation for destroying part of Lord Malfoy's gift to _Lord_ Potter," Severus said menacingly, arriving behind the students who had just entered the common room.

Harry fought not to cover the mokeskin pouch on his waist hiding under his shirt protectively with his hand as he watched his casually destroyed things with a stony facade. He was so very glad that his most important things were hidden away inside the pouch and never left behind. From the pink bitch's lack of presence inside his own room he gathered that she had summoned his trunk and other stuff. She probably had some lame excuse waiting about searching for contraband. In reality she was probably after his father's invisibility cloak and the map, both of which were in the mokeskin pouch at his waist along with his photo album of his parents.

Of course the three weapon shaped charms, staff, sword, and shield, which were attached to the pouch could be considered contraband if discovered. They would even magically expand into real weapons when willed to do so and had been gifts from the goblins and his father - Professor Flitwick. The invisible sapphire pendant that was the original gift from the goblins and could shape-shift into a magic conducting hold out dagger that he had received after the Dementor attack in Diagon also remained safely around his neck.

"Potter, I'm getting tired of waiting for you to start my punishment. Do you want me to clean this up? I can send a letter to father about your stuff needing to be replaced again. It will keep Pansy from dragging us on another shopping spree?" Draco offered, visibly put out and disapproving of the mess that was once Harry's trunk and things.

"Oh goody! Girls? We get to pick him a _proper_ wardrobe this time!" Pansy squealed in excitement, sending chills down the spines of every male present.

"And Draco gets to play servant for the next three months to Potter since he started it instead of letting Potter forget about it," Millicent pointed out with a smirk.

"Not really. Father and Professor Snape assigned it and they wouldn't have let it slide much longer. I'm just preempting them changing it to something worse," Draco shuddered in disgust at the thought of the something worse. "By the way father sent on a message from Marvolo yesterday. He said yes if you can meet the other requirements and actually convince Professor Snape to let you try."

"You couldn't have told me the good news at breakfast?" Harry asked archly. His eyes sought out the Potions Master hungrily causing the man to wonder if he _could_ manage to out wait the green-eyed imp until his birthday.

Severus knew what the message meant. The Dark Lord had given Harry permission to pursue him as a romantic interest. Filius had been kind enough to warn him early in the semester that Harry had already been granted permission by the Goblin Clan Elders. Now there was nothing but his own feeble declaration of waiting for Harry's birthday to hold the imp back from trying to woo him.

"Hem, hem, hem, to what exactly are you referring?" Umbridge asked archly.

"Mr. Potter is attempting to arrange to have certain requirements already met before his 16th birthday when he is free to attempt something regarding who might inherit from him. 16 is the earliest an attempt can be made and his... unique situation had several other requirements he needed to pass. I believe he is also attempting to keep anyone from trying to dose him with a love potion and steal his inheritance in that manner," Severus informed her, pointedly paying attention to the vile woman over his openly lustful young suitor.

"Since his family charter has some special requirements and people keep trying to trick him into signing a marriage agreement the House of Malfoy offered our assistance on the matter. If it doesn't get past my father and the goblins, as per Potter's request, Harry never sees the marriage contract. He also has to be checked for potions and spells and stuff or Gringotts will classify it as attempted line theft and kidnapping. With him officially being their clan ward something like that falls under goblin law and well..." Draco casually informed everyone, covering for Harry and keeping the toad off balance.

"Oh yeah. Didn't you have to get permission from a couple of different people just to go out on a date?" Blaise snickered. Harry's Slytherin year mates had been told about Harry's interest in Snape the moment Draco had figured it out.

"Shove off," Harry scowled, faking a poor attempt at not pouting. Inside he was smirking evilly and plotting to prank his year mates.

"Language," Umbridge tsked. Ron muttered something from behind her about Harry being a slimy no good traitor that was generally ignored.

"Oh! Did you see the latest prank that Dumbledore got hit by? He was _bald_ , no hair, no beard, no eyebrows, and his robes were more feathers than fabric. I wonder who finally got him?" Pansy informed them gleefully. "I mean this is the first set that got past his defenses and its mid-November!"

"You're not worried that your stuff is destroyed?" Ron demanded with a scowl that was quickly turning ugly.

"Lord Malfoy will go after whoever did it and we girls needed to kidnap him for another wardrobe overhaul. As a new Lord he is obviously going to need to attend the Malfoy Winter Ball and nothing he had would cut it for attending the _Malfoy Winter Ball_ ," Pansy retorted.

Harry took a minute to figure out what she was talking about before remembering the discussion he had had with his father over the invitation and Voldemort's order to attend. When he bolted the Weasley twins in the doorway of the hall that led to the boys dorms started cackling and everyone watched as he tried to escape only to be brought up short by the pureblood girls who grabbed him.

"Draco, be dear and get Harry's money pouch? Vince? Greg? would you make sure that Harry's salvageable things are accounted for? You can help play bodyguard while we shop. Millicent? Would you floo Lady Malfoy? I believe she wanted to make certain that Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick came with us so that they could ambush them for a proper fitting for good formal robes," Pansy instructed. She deftly kept hold of a struggling Harry and arranged for Severus to be unable to escape as the yearly Pureblood shopping excursion started corralling the wizards that were coming with them.

"Help!" Harry finally begged the twins. He was shoved onto a couch with a sticking charm to keep him temporarily in place for his troubles.

"They can't help," Pansy informed him sweetly. "Your two Vassals have already been kidnapped and fitted with proper formal uniforms for their own future appearances. Besides they still haven't finished finding the memory viewing spell for us. Marvolo said something about deciding if we would show some of your memories at the ball to make sure no one tries anything _stupid_. Apparently some of them are still harping on using you to get at Dumbledore even though your are very obviously _not_ on Dumbledore's side any more."

"Well we can't keep _Lord_ Potter from his official duties. I am quite certain that as long as the contraband is handed over we can just ignore this little incident," Umbridge said sweetly. Ron just smirked evilly behind her at Harry.

"What exactly are you referring to in regards to contraband?" Severus asked suspiciously, his attention diverted from being corralled like a recalcitrant puppy by his female students.

"The invisibility cloak and rude map of the school," Umbridge answered sweetly.

"So you want to confiscate Peverell and Potter family heirlooms... Are you going to demand our Heir and Lordship rings, respectively, as well?" Draco demanded in open outrage that was matched immediately by the rest of the house.

"Heirlooms...? I wasn't aware they were family heirlooms," Umbridge said turning to glare at her redheaded informant. She knew better than to try and confiscate Pureblood family heirlooms, too many were keyed to the bloodline or had nasty curses attached to prevent theft. "My apologies Lord Potter. I was given bad information. The one who destroyed your things will have a month's worth of detentions and his parents will be informed. Please give Lord Malfoy my warmest regards."

Umbridge quickly dragged Ron out of the common room as he protested about Harry's evilness and rule breaking. That is he protested until his brothers both hit him with a joint bat-boogey hex which in turn caused him to start cursing.

"Ten points, each, to Slytherin for a well cast spell," Severus awarded with a smirk.

"Right, everyone cast repairo. Lets see what we can salvage from this mess!" Pansy ordered firmly as the door to the common room closed behind the non-slytherin trio while Filch purposefully blocked the view back into the common room from the vengeful pink toad and redhead. The barrage of repair spells fixed most of the damage but Harry's trunk would most certainly need replacing.

The shopping trip reminded Harry and Severus of the first time this had happened together a month before the third task. As a result they managed to escape with only a single new set of dress robes apiece, albet a matched pair, before being allowed to return to the school by the fashionistas of the group.

Unknown to the shopping group they barely escaped the Wrath of Madam Pince as she had finally learned who had used her previous library as a ritual room in late October.

The day ended with Harry being given the finally complete eye repair potion and sent to bed to let the potion work. He would wake up the next morning to never again need his glasses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next... Winter Break!


	23. Cry Havok and Loose the Dogs of War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, not quite winter break but I think you'll like it any way.  
> Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By winter break Harry had fielded nearly 50 students of all years that had been subject to Umbridge's barbaric blood quill and he was seriously considering asking Voldemort aka Marvolo to disappear the vile woman. Filius had discovered through his relatives that the bitch _did_ have authorization signed by Fudge for basically anything she wanted to do at Hogwarts. Lucius' subtle hints about hearing unpleasant rumors about her actions at the school weren't getting anywhere with Fudge in complete denial. Not a single one of them was happy that she was torturing them _legally_.

Harry and the twins quietly handed out bounty flyers about what to do after a detention with the toad and warnings not to get caught if anyone pranked her in revenge. The prank bounty on Dumbledore was changed slightly to advertise a multi-house Defense study group that was nearly 150 strong before the trains left to take everyone home for break. Snape had gotten sneaky permission for the group and it was taught by both him and Filius with a heavy emphasis on defense against creatures when ever Umbridge was around. They also schooled the members on safe pranking tactics as an excuse to train them in general basic tactics and to help prevent malicious pranking in the future.

One thing that most of the staff agreed on was that Dumbledore was being a dangerous ass for not exerting his authority to protect the students and that Umbridge _had_ to go as soon as possible.

"M'lord, how long must we wait?" George asked Harry gravely. The sable haired Lord sat there holding a crying third year and her sister was held by Fred, both had had a morning detention with Umbridge and were still bleeding. The scene had been repeated many times and was the chief reason Madam Pince was no longer angry at them for using the library as a temporary ritual room.

"Three hours and keep to the bounty restrictions that are set for Dumbledore. Arrange for her to be... indisposed and warn our favorite staff members that I've loosed your chains. Advise the selected prefects to watch the little ones since we are going to heavily favor booby traps," Harry ordered flatly. The wide vicious grins from the twins as he accepted the younger sister and allowed them to slip away to get to work gave him cold satisfaction as he comforted the two girls.

Severus found him two hours later in the same spot still comforting the now barely awake girls.

"The twins?" Severus asked softly as he took the older girl from Harry.

"Loosed. The bitch has been hurting the students for too long. I gave Dumbledore nearly a full term to do his duty. He failed. I don't want to use lethal force but she is really pushing it," Harry quietly snarled. His eyes briefly shifted to show slits as if he had cat eyes reminding the Potions Master that they had never checked up on Harry's natural animagus ability from the goblin test.

Severus nodded his understanding, making a mental note to discuss animagi with Minerva in preparation for Harry's eventual transformation into his animal form. The staff felt just as helpless and none of them had been pleased to discover the extra Ministry wards that restricted most everyone to the grounds of the school. There was even talk of Umbridge keeping everyone over the holidays whether they wanted to stay or not. He and Filius had only covered wards with Harry recently and control of the school wards hadn't yet been claimed. It wouldn't take much for Harry to change that though.

They silently carried the two sisters back to Ravenclaw tower, handing them over to Filius with Severus adding a cream for their hands so they could be put to bed. A quiet warning to the small Professor ensured he knew that the twins were off the leash before the two wizards set about creating their own alibi's. The small man's Patronus quickly dashed through solid walls to set Minerva to spying on Umbridge in earnest.

Just before supper a blood curdling scream could be heard throughout the halls. Umbridge came dashing into the packed Great Hall hysterical over the oversized Snake-Human hybrid apparition that chased her with a raised white wand cackling. Dumbledore stood up in open alarm and quickly cast an advanced shield spell between it and her. The apparition didn't stop, simply slamming into the semi-transparent metal shield and dissolving away as mist.

"That was awesome," Colin Creevy cried out, setting off everyone else as they debated the merits of the prank that had scared the toad witless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gift ideas for Sev/Harry/Voldy/Lucius/Slytherins?  
> Do you guys want me to write an actual ball?  
> Start Showing off some of Harry's memories to people?  
> Conduct the next Chamber of Secrets tour?


	24. Winter Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big one... Hope you all like the descriptions!  
> Enjoy!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last meal of the term had the Weasley twins fulfilling the last minute pranking orders Harry had given them at the end of last year. Less than 5 minutes into the feast several magical fireworks that the twins had diligently developed were set off. They flew around generating multi-colored sparkles that rained down like snow on the feast goers, delighting everyone.

When the fireworks passed over the staff table the teacher's suddenly had different robes on than before. McGonagall's robes became fire red with orange streaks creating a flame effect while Dumbledore's eye searing robes turned a gentle moss green with pink fuzz for hair. Severus, on the other hand, found himself in an elegant set of deep blue robes that sparkled gently in the candle light making his power and grace even more apparent.

Harry swallowed hard at the sight of Severus' new look, however temporary it might be with the man's notorious mostly black wardrobe. He was immeasurably glad that Umbridge was still in the hospital wing because _someone_ had laced her afternoon tea with laxatives if only so she couldn't see his weakness for the older man. It also made him wonder what the dark man would look like in his formal robes at the ball.

Among the people that had been invited to the Malfoy ball Harry had been assured that Rita Skeeter, Fudge, Umbridge, and Amelia Bones would be attending along with Dumbledore and several ICW members. They hadn't yet managed to sneak Rita Skeeter in or the debacle that was caused by a mix of Umbridge, Fudge, and Dumbledore would be splashed all over the media. It was something that the spells the bitch had been casting willy-nilly were greatly interfering with. It was something Harry was determined to fix and his memories along with the twins' success at finding the viewing spell was going to help.

"Quit drooling," Draco hissed, knocking Harry out of his lustful trance. A quick glare at the blond had him looking towards Dumbledore to find a less than happy look that bordered on truly angry coming from the man aimed at Harry himself.

"That's it. Enough is enough," Harry muttered angrily. His next words came out in a quiet sing-song chant to keep too many from overhearing. " _Hogwarts hear my plea, my command, my right. The wards I do claim this night yet let not mine enemy know to shield the children against the foe. Let Hogwarts once more protect all children of every breed and sex. Unleash your bound mind that this might once more become a safe haven of truth, body, and mind for all kinds._ "

With that he muttered a minor cutting spell to open a small cut on his hand and allowed a few drops of blood to fall to the floor before sealing the would. The sudden shifting of the wards to his full control forced a quiet gasp from his lips and the burning that suddenly appeared in his blood as the magic tested him made him groan quietly. A moment later the pressure eased off some and the link to the house elves of Hogwarts snapped into place, leaving Harry breathing heavily.

" _Bastard_ , he was using the wards to drain people of their magic and feed it to himself, keeping the wards weak," Harry cursed in quiet fury. The quiet angry muttering from the Slytherins around him was firmly ignored as he set to fixing the mess that the wards were in. He was completely unaware that he shouldn't be able to simply fix the wards and at that point frankly didn't care that he was once again doing the impossible.

A moment's thought snapped the lines of power just right so that he thought they had simply failed on their own. A quick mental look at the recently applied wards left by the ministry had him growling and mentally shifting the threads around. He yanked control of them away from Umbridge without a care to the pain it would cause her and properly integrated them so that no holes remained in the wards. A quick redistribution of power and a smoothing out of the natural refueling aspect of the wards reactivated the dangerous creatures ward and dangerous objects ward. Wards that should have stopped past adventures such as facing Fluffy, the Mirror of Erised, the Diary, and Lupin when fully turned from ever happening in the first place.

Twenty minutes after he had begun Harry had full control of the wards and Dumbledore was none the wiser. The Slytherins to either side of him caught him as he tried to slump over, drained from the effort of finally claiming the school wards.

"Done, claimed the new Ministry wards too. The weird twists in the wards are smoothed out so we are properly protected _for once_ , the elves answer to me, and Dumbledore is still clueless," Harry informed them quietly. "Remind me to take a restorative draught the next time I have to fix ancient wards?"

"You _fixed_ them?!" Draco hissed back in shock. Harry nodded tiredly, suddenly to exhausted to care about his surroundings or letting his enemies see him so weak.

" _Fuck!_ Malfoy, keep him upright. We can't let him be seen like this," the closest Slytherin Prefect ordered. "I'll try to signal Snape or call a house elf to get him a restorative and invigoration draught. If he passes out at the table the Headmaster will use it to take him from us."

"I know! Besides I'm still on servant duty," Draco hissed back.

As Draco struggled to keep Harry upright the Prefect used the spell Severus had created especially for such times to tell him what was going on. In no time at all the house elves had sent up the potions vials to the Slytherin table for Harry to drink. It took a little effort to get him awake enough to swallow without drawing attention to what they were doing but they accomplished it none the less. Harry was able to cheerfully finish the feast even if he had to use his Dursley imprinted skills to avoid looking tired and make it down to bed on his own power afterwards.

Seeing everyone off on the train was difficult for Harry. Only the fact the Severus and Filius stayed with him on the platform let him see his new and old friends off.

"Harrykins, you really need to make something that lets us know you need us," Fred informed him mischievously.

"Yeah! Don't worry about Ronnikins over the hols either. We plan to make sure he understands that messing with you is a _bad_ idea," George agreed with equal mischief.

"Thanks and before you ask I claimed the wards at the feast last night. It wore me out and I'm still adjusting. I _did_ , however, manage to use it as a prank on Dumbledore. He has no clue that he doesn't control the wards anymore and he won't know until he tries messing with them again," Harry smirked at them tiredly. "Its also why I'm not taking the train and staying with the Malfoys or the Goblins until the Malfoy ball. I need to stick around for a day or two to let the wards get used to me and regain my strength. If you can get your parents to let you come to the ball without me having to order it as your lord I'd really appreciate it and I think you will like the prank I'm going to pull."

The twins exchanged a look and enthusiastically chorused, "We'll try!" before bounding away and on to the train as it began pulling away from the station. Harry had to be practically carried back into the castle as his energy finally gave out. Neither wizard asked questions having felt the change in the wards the night before, instead they just quietly took care of the powerful young man. The day after the train left Harry was back to normal.

A peaceful day of just relaxing passed before it got close to time for the ball. Harry used this time to relax, sort through his memories and decide what he was going to share with the guests at the ball. There were some things he simply wasn't comfortable with sharing and others he knew would need to be shared any way to help get things done.

A few hours before Harry, his small father, Minerva, and Severus were to leave for the ball Harry felt the wards twinge, as if Dumbledore had tried to do something and failed. With a snicker he snagged what he needed for the ball and fetched the others along with their robes. He wouldn't tell them why they were leaving early with their robes instead just smirking at them. They eventually went along with whatever he was plotting simply glad that he was recovered from claiming the wards. They just missed an announced Dumbledore as they flooed to Malfoy Manor.

The floo arrival room was draped in cloud patterned multi-colored light blue fabric leaving only the dark navy area rug and the furniture as contrast to the beginning of the winter wonderland setting.

"You are early!" Narcissa Malfoy greeted them with happy surprise after they had handed over their cloaks to a dedicated house elf.

"Dumbledore tried to use the wards for something after I claimed them. I left up enough of a connection so that he thought he still had control until he tried something. I figured that with the way he tried twisting it we should just come a bit early and get ready here to avoid him trying to trap us at the school some other way," Harry finally explained to all of them, smirking evilly.

"Brat," Severus said in fond exasperating. Harry just turned to smirk cockily at him, forcing Minerva and Filius to hide their own amusement at the two.

"Well I certainly don't mind but you may be randomly drafted to help with last minute set up," Narcissa warned with good humor.

"Are you using fabric everywhere?" Minerva asked with open interest while gesturing at the draped walls around them.

"Everywhere but the guest rooms," Narcissa confirmed as she led them into the hallway which was lined with fabric panels that created an embroidered pine forest corridor. They completed the winter forest aura at twilight with patches of snow on the trees with cream and silver thread lacing the pure white used for the snow to help create the minor changes in coloring and light shadows in the snow. "The fabric panels are easier to replace or clean than if someone manages to damage the marble or the gilt inlays. I can only guess what Armand Malfoy was thinking when he commissioned so much gold leaf and exacting carving in existing marble without damaging the entire area the craftsmen were working on. At least he had the presence of mind to leave the floors as plain white-grey marble or someone replaced them after he died. It makes the perfect snowy flooring for the winter ball without having to do something else with it."

She led them to the guest rooms assigned to them so they could change, allowing Severus to wander off to his own permanent room. A quick word to Harry directed him to call for an elf after he had changed as the Dark Lord wanted a word with him. Harry thanked her and quickly changed into his party clothes. 

An elf kindly lead him to the Manor library where Voldemort was reading. The Dark Lord looked handsome in his suite embroidered with green snake scales lined with silver patterning the vest with silver Slytherin crest buttons. His pants were black slacks while his shirt was a blood red silk button up. His over robe was a mix of greens and proudly displayed the Slytherin, Peverell, Riddle, and Gaunt crests matching his newly claimed Lordships along with the merged Lordship ring on his hand.

In contrast Harry wore a black over robe with paddy green piping and acid green flames embroidering the bottom hem reaching to just above his knees in flickering embroidery. On the back of the robe he wore several magically concealed crests as well as over the heart. Had the crests been visible rather than keyed to the knowledge of his claiming the Lord and Heir rings he would have been openly wearing all six crests. Even the Potter crest was enchanted to throw everyone off. The Lordship crests would have displayed the crests of Potter, Black, Gryffindor, and McGonagall/Lighten. The Heir crests, on the other hand, would display Peverell and Slytherin. His own button up shirt was a royal blue while his vest was embroidered with various green vines and leaves in gold or silver and wooden ebony flower buttons. His plain black slacks completed the look.

A special magical pin on Harry's collar showed his affiliation with the Gringotts Clan as their ward. For jewelry he still wore his sapphire pendant/hold out dagger and enchanted protective necklace chain under his shirt while his shrunken weapon charms were being worn as a part of his cuff links. The sword was attached to his right cuff link with the shield attached to his left, appearing to only be accents to his wardrobe. The staff charm, on the other hand, was still attached to the fastener of his mokeskin pouch which remained around his waist and flat against his belly under his shirt and vest. His Lordship and Heir rings were also on display even though the crests, like those on his robes, were concealed from those not in the know.

"Harry," Voldemort greeted, his ruby eyes glancing up from his reading to greet the younger man.

"Lord Slytherin," Harry greeted respectfully.

"Ah, yes. Come my heir we have much to discuss," Voldemort said with open amusement, gesturing at a nearby seat that Harry graciously accepted. "As you've noticed I have claimed my Lordships. Our situation in regards to Lordships is... unusual but not unheard of. What is really going to cause problems are Dumbledore, your status as the Chosen One, and the various attempts that are being made to control you. To dealing with much of that I was hoping we could show a few of your memories tonight and correct a few wrongs that have been done to you."

"We have nullified the prophecy status so while the fame is unfortunate the Chosen One status is probably null and void," Harry pointed out. "The Horcrux that came with it is likely to remain forever. It is also how I learned you were considering this and... I'm not happy about it but I agree that some of my memories probably should be shown. My question is what do you want to cover? Any of my so called adventures? How the Dursleys treated me? Or just cover Madam Umbridge's sins? I've already gone through and picked out specific memories for all of those but I'm not certain you want the one's from second year because they cover the diary and he explained about the anagram."

"We don't have to worry overly much about the diary memories largely because I was legally dead during my wraith state and legally changed my name when I claimed my Lordships. I am now Marvolo Gaunt Jr. and Voldemort's nephew. The story is that my mother was Tom's twin but was a squib and sent to a different orphanage because of the war. I was home schooled and inherited the parseltongue talent from her. My titles and wealth came from my uncle and my mother died only recently leading me to Gringotts and the discovery of my uncle along with all that entails. Even if the old fool forces me to admit that I was Voldemort I was _dead_ , thus ending any ability to prosecute me since I am very literally a new person. It also ended the prophecy for all that we are now tied together for eternity," Voldemort explained. "Ass for my interest in you if anyone asks... you are my heir."

"That is incredibly convenient," Harry pointed out ruefully.

"It was one of many back up plans that I arranged for. My various certificates are all accurate to my physical age and properly legal thanks to the goblins," Voldemort or rather Marvolo agreed. "Now as to your memories... I think we should simply have a selection on hand in the viewing room that is set up. Everything will be spelled not to leave the room except inside the minds of the actual owners of the memories. I will be contributing several of the more spectacular duels with Dumbledore and a few others, claiming that my uncle left them in a vault for helping to teach dueling. What would you like to contribute?"

"There has to be a warning on anything with the Dursleys in it. The ones about Umbridge are technically circumstantial since she keeps spelling the students who have detention with her to keep them quiet. I can only provide the memories of them coming to me because I haven't been cursed and I've been kept out of her detentions by Draco arranging for me to only serve detention with a head of house. The really important people have to watch those. For a fun movie-like one I can provide the tasks of the Triwizard Tournament except the last one," Harry offered thoughtfully. "I can give the mess at the end of third year but it shows Lupin transforming and trying to eat us even with the less than fun time travel bit."

"Toss in a few Quidditch games and peaceful days studying on the lawn for people who just want a quiet moment. We can use them as restful scenes," Marvolo suggested. "I realize that Skeeter is likely to pick over the memories mercilessly but are there any that you want to ban her from writing about or even looking at?"

"Er, not really. I think I'll add the memory of Hermione admitting to casting magic outside school and showing me what she thought was Rita in a jar. I think just Madam Bones should see those since I think that Dumbledore actually encouraged her to do those things," Harry admitted. "She's better off in Ravenclaw but she also needs to be working under the same rules as everyone else and kept away from Dumbledore."

"Very well," Marvolo conceded. He was quite happy with how peacefully and productive this meeting was turning out.

"Fair warning I will avoid the memory room completely even though I want to see those duels between you and the old fart," Harry told him.

"Fair enough," Marvolo chuckled. "You can see the duels another time."

They extracted the final memory selection, labeling them and sent them off to the memory movie room with an eager house elf after Marvolo charmed them. Soon after they were pressed into service to help with the final set up for the ball. By the time the five non-Malfoys were released from service people had already started arriving. They all met in the gorgeous main ballroom after being released.

The main ballroom the walls were draped in fabric embroidered with white sparkling snowflake patterns of different shapes, sizes, and crystal structures on a midnight blue background. Some snowflakes had golden threads shot through them while others had silver, copper, or bronze. The massive embroidered snow crystal fantasy castle hung behind the buffet table. The clever use of metallic threads and ultra thin thread wire created life within the castle. Glowing windows within the embroidery were lit by metallic fire light using copper, bronze, and gold. The silver thread was used to create the delicate illusion of snow banks and drifts along the ramparts and slate blue embroidered roofing tiles.

Severus wore a dark green robe with black piping and different shades of black creating the embroidered flickering flames that stretched from the hem of his over robe to just above his knees. Like Harry and Voldemort his over robe carried the Prince crest openly over his heart and on his back in beautiful embroidery. His vest was edged with emerald green embroidery and the vine patterns were created with silver thread tracing out the designs on black fabric and silver leaf buttons. Deep green edging towards black slacks completed the look. All of it conspired to make Harry speechless the first time he saw the man in his party clothes, his hair now very obviously of a fine silky texture rather than a greasy one like Sirius had always ragged on the man about.

Filius, for his part, wore dark green shirt with embroidered flames on left side from waist to shoulder, black slacks, and black boots. His fitted dark blue over robe with lighter blue accents had two wands crossed spitting sparks embroidered on the back along with the Gringotts crest embroidered over his heart indicating his membership in the clan.

Minerva though had woven her family tartan into her hair as a hair ribbon within a braid of hair and wrapped the result around the remaining hair to hold the bun in place. She then allowed what remained of the braid to trail down to hang at her left shoulder. For her clothes she wore a Chinese style forest green velvet dress with red piping and a brick red sash at her waist.

The ball went extremely well with Harry dutifully avoiding the memory room like a plague until, that is, he ran into Umbridge making genocidal comments against everyone with even a drop of creature in them. The loud suggestion to charm an enormous horde of rats carrying the Black Plague and send them to flood Gringotts though caused Harry's temper to snap. Harry's eyes went cat like as his mouth became full of sharp teeth, complete with very pointy incisors. Black fur rippled across his form as he grew a pitch black tail and his ears topped his head. His partial transformation into a panther immediately gave him more speed and strength as he pounced on the suddenly terrified witch dressed in cotton candy pink, taking her to the ground growling.

Severus saw the take down and rushed to keep the still transforming brat from ripping her throat out while everyone else scrambled to get away from the enraged wizard-cat. By the time he got there Marvolo, Filius, and Minerva were at his side. What they found though was a growling oversized cat fully transformed except for his still humanish face and a hysterical pink bitch screaming her head off.

"Harry, you can't kill her," Marvolo said sternly just as Lucius and Narcissa appeared out of the crowd, joining the group. Harry snarled louder at Umbridge, his face shifting more towards panther than human.

"Brat, this is not the way to earn a date. You can't go on a date if you are stuck in Azkaban for murder," Severus scolded. At the sound of his voice Harry finished shifting but whipped around to stare at the Potions Master. He had a split second of warning as Harry's muscles bunched up before the oversized cat leapt at him, taking the other man down even as he nuzzled at Severus' spluttering face and gave a bone shaking purr. A short scream from Umbridge reminded Harry that a threat was nearby causing him to take up a protective stance over the downed Potions Master and start growling at her again.

"He is a natural animagus and the bind Dumbledore placed on the ability was recently removed. Less than three months ago actually," Marvolo explained quickly yet only loud enough for their immediate group to hear. "It wouldn't surprise me if this was his first transformation or if he happens to have more than one form."

"Oh dear. Severus, am I correct in presuming that this is Mr. Potter's first transformation and that he hasn't been secretly attempting to become an animagus as his father did?" Minerva called questioningly. She kept anyone from approaching the duo in case Harry wasn't in proper control of the panther instincts.

"His eyes shifted earlier this term when he was upset but yes, as far as I know this is his first change," Severus answered, slightly out of breath with an affectionate black panther having knocked him down.

"What did you say to set him off?!" Marvolo demanded of the pink toad that was quickly shifting from cowering to pompous outrage.

"I? I said nothing! The beast simply attacked me! It should be put down!" Umbridge started to rage only to be brought up short by an array of angry wands in her face.

"Harry would not have transformed and pinned you to the floor if you had not said something beyond his patience. His powers had been bound up until recently and he is still getting used to the increase in power levels," Marvolo informed her with dangerous calm laced with just a hint of hissing Parseltongue.

"It has been suggested that we expose her to someone's more unpleasant memories of battle or other gruesome scene," Filius explained darkly. "Perhaps it will snap her out of this unreasonable hatred for anything not purely human. After all she called my _son_ an animal when he hasn't actually hurt her."

Harry's new ears perked forwards in open interest as his emerald cat eyes watched the witch thoughtfully. No one was able to react in time when he struck, snatching her wand up in his powerful jaws and crushing it to splinters. Splinters that were driven into his gums and make him whine in obvious pain as he pawed helplessly at his muzzle and freshly bleeding gums.

"Oh for the love of... don't you ever think before you act?! Come here you troublesome beast of a brat. I will get the splinters out of that maw of yours," Severus scolded even as Harry sheepishly obeyed. Severus' gentle hands worked quickly and carefully as everyone watched the splinters being lovingly removed from Harry's mouth. Once he was done a sand papery tongue licked roughly at his face leaving him spluttering as Harry turned to glare balefully at the pink clad witch.

"Harry," Marvolo warned but didn't bother to stop the panther from his lunge as the jaw clamped down on her collar. Harry roughly started to drag her towards the very same room he had been avoiding all evening, growling and shaking her occasionally.

After tossing her into the room with his personal group on his heels Harry sat down and pondered for a moment before shrugging and focusing on the mental image of his human self. Five minutes later he was mostly human again except for the tail, finger nails that were more claws than nails, and his eyes were still cat-shaped.

"I have a few memories she needs to see, please?" Harry requested while still glaring at her with an eye towards violence.

Marvolo obligingly collected the memories and placed them in the pensive. Harry lunged towards her again and manhandled her into the pensive, forcing her to watch him fight the Basilisk, the horde of Dementors, and finally his claiming his Lordships as the rings accepted him. Once the duo tumbled free of the pensive Umbridge stared at him in shocked horror.

"Now, after watching all of that do you _really_ want to piss me off? Or go after those I count as family or Clan?" Harry drawled with an evil smirk at the Ministry Spy as he finished turning human again.

"As she is being arrested tonight thanks to the memories supplied that shouldn't exactly be a problem," Madam Bones informed him dryly. "Please thank whoever managed to provide them. She is being charged with anything that I can make stick. It is unfortunate that I can't charge anyone who helped her but I think you have shown remarkable restraint tonight. I expect the registration form for your animagus form within a week of your 17th birthday Lord Potter, if not sooner."

"I'm not even sure I can do it again," Harry snorted. "I certainly haven't been learning to be an animagus."

"Then that was a very impressive display of accidental magic," Madam Bones said pointedly as Umbridge was arrested by recently summoned Aurors and led away.

Lucius apologized to his guests for the disruption and the guests returned back to the party. It had been an unexpected additional piece of gossip but the ball ended on a high note any way. Rita's scathing article the next morning covering the spells and the blood quill was just icing on the cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What next?  
> Christmas gift exchange? - what gifts?  
> Memory Movie night?  
> Install Barty as replacement DADA Professor? - Blackmail Dumbledore to do it?  
> Chamber of Secrets tour?  
> More Pranks on Dumbledore?


	25. Family Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As it turned out Dumbledore had never made it to the Malfoy Winter Ball because he was trying to figure out what had happened to the school wards. It also didn't let him off the hook when it came to some hard questions raised by some very important people viewing Harry's donated memories at the ball. Before Dumbledore knew what was happening the next morning he found himself banned from speaking with Harry alone and on probation as Headmaster pending a review of his actions in the post. He also found himself on probation with his position at the ICW and formally under review in regards to his conduct on the Wizengamot. It was _not_ turning out to be a very good holiday for one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

To add final insult to injury anything that rightfully belonged to Harry started to magically disappear from his office. He was completely unsurprised due to the warning of things disappearing earlier that morning when he read the notice that his vaults had been reduced by half to pay for the fees, fines, and penalties incurred by having said things and Harry's mistreatment. Dumbledore sighed heavily in a mix of tiredness and disappointment with Harry, thinking he had reported something, when he read the last part demanding his appearance at an official inquiry with the bank. The post script informed him that the audit had been triggered by pre-existing conditions under goblin law, making him curse loudly enough to earn a disapproving look from Fawkes. It also had him dismiss Harry as the potential reason for the account changes or the wards being removed from his control due largely to the fact that as Gryffindor's Heir Harry owned at least a portion of the castle.

The first prank of the day had turned out to be bubble wrap sealing his wardrobe shut. A cutting hex solved this very simply, allowing him access to his clothes. The second one had been the super glue applied to all of his drawers then shut after drying so they would stick and/or squeak when used. A slightly over powered scouring charm fixed this one, sanding away the super glue. The third one had him simply chuckling over the cute small knit animals that suddenly filled his bed and bathroom. The sudden darkening of his wardrobe to shades of dark grey and black combined with his lemon drops being laced with essence of ghost pepper of the last prank though were what finally broke him.

" _HARRY POTTER!!!!!_ " Albus roared, echoing down the halls of the school and causing the remaining students to wonder who won the bounty as they calmed the spooked owls at their respective breakfast tables.

At Malfoy Manor more pleasant things were occurring as Christmas day quickly approached being only two days after the ball. The day after the ball its self Harry panicked, realizing he didn't have Christmas gifts for his hosts or Severus. This led to him being found by Nagini as he freaked out in his lovely ocean themed room the next morning. Her reaction once she understood why he was upset was, to put it simply, to laugh her tail off.

"~Its not funny! How am I ever going to capture Severus as my mate if I can't get him a proper gift!? This is one of those holidays that help prove you are fit for a family and a mate!~" Harry informed the laughing reptile in obvious distress. He had made a concerted effort to explain it in a way she would understand even though if Severus ever found out how he had phrased it he was screwed. This new information abated Nagini's amusement somewhat while leaving her highly entertained at Harry's worry.

"~Silly hatchling,~" Nagini chuckled before snagging him in her coils and dragging him to see Marvolo, who was just coming out of his room. Harry protested loudly and struggled to get free the whole way.

"~Nagini?~" Marvolo hissed questioningly, open amusement preventing him from being in any way stern.

"~Hatchling worries over a lack of gifts to give for winter gift day,~" Nagini informed him with open amusement. "~Especially gifts for his mate-to-be.~"

"You forgot to get Christmas gifts?" Marvolo asked in interest.

"Yes and no. Dumbledore interfered a bit, keeping me on the grounds, and... I couldn't figure out what to get people," Harry admitted sheepishly, finally succeeding in disentangling himself from Nagini's coils. "I... also wasn't sure anyone would _want_ something from me."

Marvolo just sat there, contemplating the downcast look that consumed his heir and sighed. A quick stinging hex had Harry glaring indignantly at him in no time. It was a vast improvement over his previous dark thoughts of being unwanted for all the current evidence to the contrary. Something to lay at the feet of those blasted muggles and the old fool, something they would pay for... later.

"Brat, there are a great many reasons to be cautious over receiving or giving gifts. Simply because it came from _you_ is not one of them. Go eat breakfast. We will take a last minute trip to sort out your gifts for everyone afterwards," Marvolo told him gruffly. Harry flushed in embarrassment and nodded his understanding before heading for the dining room for food.

True to his word Marvolo quietly informed Filius of the situation and the two of them took Harry present hunting after breakfast, much to Narcissa's secret amusement. The gift seeking trip occupied them all day but Harry was glad for it once they returned to the manor loaded down with gifts. During their impromptu trip for gifts Harry was shocked and delighted to find a secret little crystal store owned by a Master Crystal worker. Both older wizards were shocked at Harry's luck and promised themselves to check him in case he was under some sort of luck spell.

They left the shopping trip with all the presents Harry needed.

Christmas morning found a small crystal figurine for each of Harry's friends and chocolate for every Slytherin under the appropriate present piles. Lucius was dazed and amused to receive a leather strap bracelet with a cobra burned into it and enchanted with a minor confusion charm to help him escape boring conversations. Narcissa was delighted to receive a winter cloak made from arctic fox pelts lined with butter soft calf skin decorated with a detailed scene of a snowy mountain range. Draco got an early release from his time of servitude and a leather messenger bag that had a beautifully detailed eastern dragon burned into the leather. Filius squeaked in delight when he was presented with a boot knife that was legal for the dueling circuit.

Voldemort's gifts were a magical squeaky soft snake toy, at Nagini's suggestion. He was also given permission to put a tracking charm of his choice on Harry's scar. The Dark Lord passed the unconscious test by placing the tracking charm on Harry himself rather than his head or the horcrux. He then demanded a hug and cuddle time. Harry's blinding smile and hopeful look told everyone he was more comfortable with them and at least partly trusted them. The immediate platonic cuddle session, which Nagini quickly joined, had Severus fighting to bury the jealousy suddenly burning in his chest.

"Severus... I'm pretty sure that sometimes you have to work with potions that can't be exposed to extra magic so I got you a protective amulet that you can take off. I was told to tell the potion master I was giving it to that he wasn't allowed to take chips off of it for potions. The crafter said you have to go to him for the crystal chips for any potions you want to make. The address is wrapped around the pendant," Harry offered quietly as he handed over the simply wrapped present. "You also get to claim some of the Basilisk for potions stuff when we finally harvest it."

"Are you going to growl over your kill when we go examine the basilisk?" Severus asked in amusement which banished his jealousy as he accepted the gift.

Harry glowered at him before his expression turned sheepish with a ripening blush. He still didn't have control over his panther form and had woken up wrapped in both his blankets and black fur covering his skin. Breakfast had been interesting but Harry had greatly enjoyed the creamed eggnog the elves had come up with for him until he had managed to turn human again. Nagini had wrapped smugly around him all morning, praising him for his second time turning into a panther, even if it was still involuntary.

The rest of the day Harry learned what a Malfoy family Christmas looked like. He refused to open his own presents until later only to recieve an upgraded trunk, a new wardrobe, a personalized blanket for his bed, and many other useful things. The framed adoption paperwork from his adoption as both a Gringotts Clan member, as an honorary Malfoy, and Voldemort's legal son had him in a daze for hours afterwards.


End file.
